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Dareon 1.5% Margin of Error

Joined: 08 Jul 2002 Posts: 307 Location: Alaska, you fools! Stop being surprised!
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Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 2:36 am Post subject: Rurouni Taikai SaGa Official Introduction Thread |
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Ring...
"Interplanar Agent Ralph speaking. Ah, yes, madam. I'm just about to set out. I have the itenerary and everything seems to be in working order. I was just about to grab my hat and go."
A gray office. Exceedingly gray. It's carpeted, painted, and decorated in gray. It's a bit hard to tell where the floor leaves off and walls begin, and you might risk stumbling over furniture. Some of it is different shades of gray, but ultimately, yes, gray. Very very gray. There are points of color here and there. Brown file folders sit on one corner of the desk, a green blotter/calendar sit in the low center, and a black and silver magnetic toy rests at a far corner. A potted jade plant sits by the window. One wall holds a painting or facsimile print. Van Gogh's "Starry Night", only rendered in reds. The effect is a little unsettling.
Near the door (Brown wood, with frosted glass inset) stands a man. You might find it easy to miss him in the room, since he's gray, too. He wears a gray tweed business suit, gray loafers, and a gray tie with gray designs on it. Gray hair reaches to his ears. Even his skin seems gray, but it doesn't seem to be a sickly gray. He just seems a natural gray.
He's a bit on the short side, but not that wide in proportion. Contrary to his statement, he's already wearing his hat. A gray felt bowler hat, with a black silk hatband. Maybe not black so much as a really dark shade of gray.
Notice how gray doesn't really look like a word anymore? Or at least how you're studying the structure of the word or wondering why I'm not using "grey"? Fascinating aspect of the human brain, that. But I digress.
As we've been studying this man, who has identified himself as Interplanar Agent Ralph, his conversation continues. He's talking through a standard desk phone (gray plastic) to someone who is apparently female. Due to the magic of third-person limited perspective writing, we can't hear the other end of the conversation.
"Yes, madam. I'll start with the list of ones we've called on before, then work my way through some of the other universes, using my own judgment where appropriate." His accent seems slightly British, possibly a little German, with maybe a sprinkling of Texas drawl in there. You can't really place the accent, but he speaks in a slightly different manner than you do.
"I'm glad you trust my judgment, madam. I'll try not to let you and our employer down. What did he want them for again? I have it on file, but as long as I have you..."
"Of course. And you're sure he can deliver on the compensation?"
"Records show that he's not as affluent as he says he can be? But then-" A pause. "But the forecasting node says if this goes right he will be. Now it's my turn to trust your judgment, madam."
"Yes, madam, your honor is unimpeachable. I'll do my part, rest assured."
"Yes. Thank you, madam. Goodbye."
With a sigh, he hung up the grey plastic phone, turned to the door, snapped his fingers, and disappeared, leaving behind a curl of smoke that was quickly sucked out of the room through the ventilation ducts.
---
Okay, this is the intro thread. The aforementioned gray Ralph will be approaching each of you individually and inviting you to the tournament. For reprisals, this invitation will happen some time after your return from the previous tournament they were in. Or possibly while still in the afterparty of said tournament, if you haven't written them returning yet.
He'll introduce himself by name, leaving out his title of Interplanar Agent. He'll offer your character a chance to rest and relax after the harrowing ordeals they've faced, the opportunity to gain new knowledge, the chance to earn riches, or the opportunity of facing mighty and challenging opponents, whichever seems like it would have the most effect on your chosen character. If they really don't seem interested, he'll consult his handheld and then offer them their heart's desire. Whether he can deliver on this or not is debatable.
If you want to write them actually going to the tournament, once your character has accepted his invitation (They should, as he will not be abducting anyone) and when they're ready to go, Ralph will press a button on his hand-held computer. Mist will swirl around your character and they'll be rendered unconscious or at least insensate. _________________
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AsylumXKP ...Back again

Joined: 02 Jul 2002 Posts: 631 Location: Still Drunk!
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 7:03 am Post subject: |
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Prologue
There are many worlds and dimensions in the multiverse. The number itself is unfathomable, as new worlds are created with each passing day. Higher beings, even higher than the Eternal Council itself, have sorted out these universes by their creators. For each universe is created by an "author", a creative entity that can be as simple as a minor being with an imagination. Controled by two forces: The Rules and The Script, reality is forged.
The Rules dictate laws that a universe must follow. From simple physics to complex systems, there are rules that must be obeyed. Gravity, Inertia, Saving Throws, and Hit Points are all examples. They are coded by the authors, it's actors and characters must uphold them. However, sometimes though the code is not perfect, and can be worked around to create unreal results.
The Script are the actions, dialogue, appearance, and thoughts of the actors; the entities that inhabit the various worlds. Without The Script they do nothing. It is the soul, the drive, the purpose in all actors.
Our "story" takes place in one of these multiverses. A multiverse marked by the Higher Beings as "XKP". More specifically "XKP-0002-0004". (Author-Universe Number-World Number)
The sun has long gone in this Old European styled town, roads of dark cobblestone weave through the town and it's buildings. A faint moonlight reflects off the puddles of water created by the earlier rains. The street lamps are turned on, attracting moths and other insects around it's glow. A black figure races through the darkness, and pauses under a bright lamp. This figure is Conker, King of the Land. A few things to note however; for one his crown is missing. He's also dressed in all black, his trenchcoat sweeping in the movement. Dark shades cover his bright blue eyes. He places a hand against the lamp stand and breathes in.
"It sure is dark out tonight." he says to himself. He adjusts his sunglasses, then realizes the problem. He takes them off and smiles.
"Much better!" he slipped the glasses into his pocket. A bullet ricocheted off the lamp, inches from Conker's skull. The squirrel pulled out his dual SMGs and fired back while moving away. "Shit."
More bullets from the darkness shot out at Conker. He took off in full sprint, returning fire when he could. He ducked into an alleyway, looking over his shoulder. He passed a hanging lamp, bouncing left and right. As he got further into the alley he noticed it was a dead end. He screeched to a halt, nearly slamming into a wall. Conker turned around and aimed into the dark.
"Mr. Squirrel." said a raspy voice. "I finally have you." Footsteps hit the cobble, echoing down the alley. Conker remained calm. The speaker stepped into the hanging lamp's light, revealing a weasel in sunglasses and a suit. He was armed with a rocket launcher aimed straight at the red squirrel.
"Impossible." said Conker, putting away his guns.
"Not impossible. Possible. Say goodbye, Mr. Squirrel." he launched the rocket.
Conker jumped backflipped into the air, with slo-mo assist and leaped to the top of the wall as the rocket sped into it. He jumped again as the rocket blasted the wall apart, sending debris through the backside. As soon as the rubble settled Conker landed on the ground. With a smooth motion he pulled out a hand cannon, aiming it at the weasel on the other side of the blasted wall. A green laser cut through the smoke, pinpointing the weasel's dome. Conker pulled the trigger, and the slug blasted the weasel's head into bits. With a thud, the lifeless body fell to the ground, pouring out blood.
Conker spun his pistol around and placed it back. He then looked at the direction of the audience.
"I suppose you're wondering that's going on. I have no f@#%ing idea either!" he shrugged.
A door opened into the alleyway, and there was the same weasel again. He stretched his neck and stared at Conker. The squirrel's eyes bulged out, and he ran. Shots fired from behind him as the weasel gave chase. Conker ran out into the streets and into a park. He ducked into some bushes, breathing deeply.
"Come out, come out wherever you are..." mocked the weasel. A third shadowy figure appeared.
"Where is Conkah Squirrel?" said a deep German accent.
"I have no idea who you're talking about." said the weasel.
*BLAM! CHA-CHUNK*
The Terminator theme played as the short shadowy figure looked around for a moment, then walked off. As the song faded away, Conker let out a sigh.
"That was a close one."
"Hello Conker." said a voice from Conker's right. The squirrel freaked out as he turned to see some guy in all grey.
"AAAAHHH!"
"Don't worry, I mean you no harm. My name is Ralph."
"Oh, yes." Conker shuddered.
"I'm here to invite you to a tournament."
"AAAAHHHHH!"
"What?"
"No thanks, do you know how hard it was to get rid of my Comedic Award hosting gig? I want nothing to do with these tournaments anymore!"
"Well, that's a shame."
"Tahget sighted. Prepare for tahmination." said the German voice as the Terminator theme started up again. Conker heard rustling in the bushes.
"Okay! I'll do it! Just get me the hell out of here!" said Conker, whispering.
"Fair enough." Ralph pushed some buttons on his GBA SP machine doohickey. Smoke covered Conker and he was out cold.
-----------------------------------------
ASYLUMXKP PRESENTS
Two trailer park squirrels go round the outside, round the outside, round the outside!
Two trailer park squirrels go round the outside, round the outside, round the outside!
Ooooooooh
Guess who's back?
Back again.
Conker's back.
Tell a friend.
Guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back...
~La la, la la la la la, la la, la la la la...
I created a monster cuz nobody wants to see Galuf no more
They want Conker, I'm chopped liver!
Well if you want Conker this what'll I'll give ya
A little bit a of comedy mixed with some alcohol
That'll make you lightheaded like losing your skull
from Skull Eater while he calls you a ho'!
I know that you got a job Sir Galuf
But you're dead... what the f!@#$ rhymes with Galuf? "HEY!"
Conker's back now, and he stole the stage
Because nobody cares about that Red Mage!
I know that he wanted to be in this though
It's too bad he failed his sponsorship saving throw!
You're going bannanas cause there is no Gabannas
Hitmoogles for hire, done and fired!
They tried to get me on drama, see,
But if feels so empty without comedy!
So, do a little dance, for Lance Vance
F@#$ that I'll take off my pants, and do a few chants
And get ready, for this shit's about to get heavy
I'm about to get offense like "TIMMAH TIMMAH!"
Now this looks like a job for me
So everbody just, just follow me
Cause we need a little controversy
Cause it feels so empty without me!
I said this lookes like a job for me
So everbody just, just follow me
Cause we need a little controversy
Cause it feels so empty without me!
~Na na na na na na ! Na na na na na! Na na na na na, na na na na!
~Na na na na na na ! Na na na na na! Na na na na na, na na na na!
CONKER: REVOLUTIONS _________________
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AsylumXKP ...Back again

Joined: 02 Jul 2002 Posts: 631 Location: Still Drunk!
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 7:05 am Post subject: |
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Chapter One - Another day
Earlier that day...
The sun was shining down on King Conker's castle. The king was outside lounging at the pool, sipping on a blue exotic cocktail with a little umbrella.
"This is the life." he folded his arms behind him, soaking up the sun. Suddenly he got back up. He pulled out a mini-calender and sorted through it. "Well, so much for doing nothing today!" he got back up and left the pool area.
One hour later in the "workout" room, Conker was standing in front of a TV in a martial arts pose.
"Now punch forward! HA!" said Sarge as he extended his fist out. The large squirrel was wearing a black gi, and was surrounded by various females in tight fitting aerobic clothing.
"Left kick! HA!" he extended his left leg up, and held it there. Conker, looking at his TV screen did the same thing. On top of the TV was "SARGE'S DRUNKEN PAW STYLE VOL. 1" DVD case.
"Extend elbow! HA!" Conker did so, though was paying more attention to the large breasted blonde on the right.
"Very good! Lessons will continue in Vol. 2! Order online now at www.sargefighting.com! HA!" said the Sarge as the credits rolled. Conker turned off the TV with a remote and threw a towel over him.
A shower and change of clothes later, Conker sat down at his desk. As usual, the large desk and leather office chair was located in front of gigantic throne, which now collected dust. He pushed a button on the intercom.
"I'm ready for lunch now Feebles."
"Very well sire." a plate was promptly placed in front of Conker, holding a sandwich. A cold bottle of beer followed, and a napkin was placed on his lap. Feebles the weasel, standing right next to Conker pushed a button on his headset. "Anything else sire?"
"No, that's all. Thank you Feebles." said Conker as he talked into the intercom. He snacked on his lunch, finally turning his head to see Feebles.
"So what's on the agenda?"
"Well sire..." Feebles pulled out a small list. "There's a few papers to sign, you still need to call Rare about Live & Reloaded... And that's it. A slow day sire."
"Yup! I'll get started on that paperwork after lunch. Any mail?"
"Your subscription to 'Play Squirrel', Vol. 2 of 'Drunken Paw', and a dead fish from Monique*." *RT Sunshine.
"Another dead fish? Sheesh, what's her problem? Just because I was with her sister on the side... And Daphine... And Jessica... And Susan... And Stephanie... And Joanna Dark..." Conker trailed off as he grinned. Feebles let out a rude cough.
"Oh. Sorry about that."
Chapter 2 - Ape Escape
Somewhere in an alleyway in Squirreltown, electricity crackled. As time went by it became more fierce, and a wormhole opened. A non clothed monkey appeared out of it as the wormhole vanished. With an emotionless face he stood up and stared down the alley. He saw a group of three grey squirrels in leather, and walked towards them.
"Oh man, this is some gooooooooood shit!" said one of them, puffing on a joint.
"Pass it here!"
"Well what have we here?" said the third, eyeing the simian. "What the f@#$?"
"What the f@#$." said the monkey in a German accent.
"Looks like we got a comedian here!" one of the punks pulled out a knife.
"Your clothes. Give me them." he eyed one of the punks in a leather jacket.
"F%$& you asshole!" he punched the monkey, and did not win $20. Instead his fist was grabbed, and slowly crushed. The other two punks ran off. Sometime later the monkey walked out of the alley, now fully clothed in leather. He entered a gunshop, walking straight to the counter.
"Hello sir, and welcome! What can I get you today?" said a weasel.
"Uzi nein milla-meter, 12-gauge shotgun, Colt .45 revolvah, dual plasmah cannon, and a micro-nuclear warhead launcha."
"I'm sorry, but we just ran out of micro-nuclear warhead launchers. We have triple barreled rocket launchers if you're interested though."
"Okay."
"Now, will this be cash, debit, or credit?"
*BLAM! CHA-CHUNK*
The chimp reloaded the shotgun and walked back out. _________________
With less suckage than Revolutions! |
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AsylumXKP ...Back again

Joined: 02 Jul 2002 Posts: 631 Location: Still Drunk!
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 7:10 am Post subject: |
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Chapter 3 - The Script
A strange old squirrel, dressed in a green robe and sunglasses was talking with Conker at his throne room. Feebles was standing to Conker's left as always, ready to serve.
"King Conker, you must see inside yourself. The power of context sensitive is only rivaled by the Script. Your use of context sensitivity will eventually summon the agents of the Script, who do not like improvising it in any way."
"Well Master Wang Hung-Lo..."
"I'm not finished!" he scorned Conker. "If you continue to abuse The Script in such manners, then it'll be your ass!"
"I've been fine so far, I mean--"
"You are ruining the very fabric of time and space Conker! Things are going to get f#$@ed up!"
"That's enough." said Conker. He raised his hand, and two armed weasels dragged him away.
"This is your only warning!" he protested. As he was dragged away and shoved out the doors, Conker could hear "Help! I'm being repressed!" with a loud thunk the doors closed.
"Well, that guy was nuts."
"Certainly was sire."
Outside the door, the guards dragged the crazed old man down the halls. "THE SCRIPT HAS YOU! THE SCRIPT--" The old man screamed, his voice sounding digital. The guards released him as he convulsed and spasmed. His face contorted as a large snout and a pair of shades appeared. The old squirrel morphed into a weasel in a suit and shades. The two guards glared at him oddly.
"What the hell?" said one of the guards. The weasel grabbed his throat, and slammed him to the ground with blazing speed. The second guard reacted by pulling out an assault rifle, which was promptly removed from him. He was butt-stroked by his rifle and landed on the ground.
"Weaklings." the weasel adjusted his shades. He pivoted around and entered the throne room, throwing the doors open dramatically.
"Who are you?" said Conker. He readied one of his SMGs under his desk. Feebles stepped backwards slowly.
"You've been bad, Mr. Squirrel. You've been warned, and yet you did not take heed. Your... Changes to the Script are not appreciated."
"Typical. He sent a Weasel Mafia hitman after me." said Conker refering to Master Wang Hung-Lo.
"You are upseting the balance of life. The balance of purpose. Without the Script there is nothing." the suit walked towards Conker's desk.
"If I hear 'The Script' one more time..." Conker rolled his eyes.
"For this, Mr. Squirrel, you must pay the price. You must pay with your miserable excuse for a life." The weasel was right up to Conker's desk.
"I've got a better idea. Either you walk out of this castle, or you have your first period."
"Die." The weasel reached into his jacket. His hand then went limp as a full magazine of machine gun fire rattled into his crotch. He still stood, though his eyes bulged out through his sunglasses.
"Ouch." he fell to the ground, bleeding below the waist. Conker pulled his SMG back out, and blew the smoke away.
"Shall I get someone to remove the carcass sire?" said the black suited Feebles. Conker turned to Feebles, and suddenly panicked.
"AHHH!" A frying pan slammed against Feeble's face in what was about three frames of animation.
"... Sire." said Feebles with a groan. His snout was curved upwards, bent out of shape.
"Whoops."
Meanwhile, in Cleveland, at a bus stop, an old woman spasmed then morphed into the suited weasel. The various humans around him gawked.
"Shit."
Chapter 4 - The Diddynator
"Sir!" said a guard squirrel opening the throne door. He snapped to attention and saluted. "Diddy Kong would like to speak to you sir!"
Conker sighed. "Let him in."
Diddy Kong came through the door, dressed in all leather. His face was cold and expressionless. He slowly approached Conker's desk and stood there. He reached into his jacket and pulled out...
A bananna.
"Hey Conker! How's it going?" he said as he unpeeled the bananna in his normal annoying voice.
"Not too bad. Nice jacket." said King Conker.
"Thanks, I got it at Wal-mart!"
"So what brings you here to my neighborhood?"
"Well Conker, I was thinking the other day, and I thought 'Wouldn't it be great to have a Diddy Kong Racing 2?' I already talked to Tip-tup, and Banjo, and--"
"No. No Diddy. No."
Diddy refused to listen. "We could have the whole gang together, maybe even some of your friends! I thought it would be great to have, get this, TWO PEOPLE PER CART! You could trade places while racing and--"
"Diddy, stop. Please."
"-- just imagine revisting old race tracks, and some new ones in stunning 3D for the Gamecube! What great fun we could have--"
Conker jumped on his desk. "FOR F@#$'S SAKE SHUT UP! YOU'RE A HAS BEEN! YOU DON'T WORK FOR RARE BECAUSE YOU'RE NINTENDO, AND YOU DON'T WORK FOR NINTENDO BECAUSE YOU'RE RARE PROPERTY! THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER F!@#$ING DIDDY KONG RACING, EVER! RARE AND NINTENDO ARE THROUGH!"
Diddy paused. Seconds later, his mouth began to move again. "I was thinking we could revisit battle mode, and make it so the rockets are replaced with harmless magic, so that way--"
"ARGH!" Conker groaned.
"Sir!" said a guard squirrel opening the throne door. He snapped to attention and saluted. "Diddy Kong would like to speak to you sir!"
"Sure, let him in!" said Conker folding his arms. Suddenly he realized something was fishy here. Suprisingly a second Diddy Kong entered the throne room, also decked out in leather. He came in with an expressionless face, and looked at Diddy Kong.
"Are you Conkah Squirrel?" he said to his doppleganger.
"No, my name is Diddy Kong, and I like Banannas! Hey, you look just like me! Did you get that jacket at Wal-mart too? Do you like bana--"
*BLAM! CHA-CHUNK*
Diddy's head was blown to bits with a shotgun blast. The remaining Diddy Kong cocked the shotgun and looked at Conker.
"Are you Conkah--"
"THANK YOU! I have no idea what is going on, but thank you for shutting him up!"
"Are you Conkah Squirrel?"
"Yes I am, and to thank you, I've got a fat wad of bills..." Conker ducked under his desk to grab something out of a bin.
*BLAM!*
Conker stopped as the buckshot flew over his head.
"Meep."
"Prepah to be tahminated."
*CHA-CHUNK*
"F@#$!" Conker jumped from his desk as it was blown to bits by the shotgun. Feebles was already gone by the time Diddy fired his second shot. He ducked behind a column, which was disintegrated by another shotgun blast. Conker peeped out from a tiny section and crouched as another blast followed. As Diddy reloaded, Conker ran off to behind the throne.
*BLAM! CHA-CHUNK*
And there went the ancient throne, and out came Conker with dual SMGs screaming. Diddy shook as he was shot, and was turned around. He remained standing and was motionless. Conker stopped his barrage and looked at Diddy through the gunsmoke. Diddy turned back around, revealing a metalic face with a red light for an eye.
TARGETING: CONKER.
MISSION: TERMINATE.
COMEBACK:
"Eat shit and die!"
"Go to hell!"
"STFU NOOB!"
"Yo momma!"
"Buff you, asshole."<
"Buff you, asshole." said Diddy as he cocked his shotgun. Conker's eyes bulged out of his skull, as his jaw dropped. He did a 180' and took off in the opposite direction. He ran through into his room and shut the door, locking it.
"Phew." he rested against the door. A hairy arm bursted through the door, and started grabbing around. Conker ran to the corner of his room, back against the wall in horror. He looked around for a possible exit, being the window. However, he also saw his wardrobe. A lightbulb appeared over Conker's head.
The hairy arm struggled with the door for a good three minutes. Diddy removed his arm finally. A shotgun blast blew open the door and Diddy looked around. He saw some Red Squirrel standing near the window, dressed in all black, and sunglasses.
"Are you Conkah Squirrel?" asked the robot.
"No, I'm... Neo... You know, the one... guy."
"Where is Conkah Squirrel Neo Youknowtheoneguy?"
"I saw him go out the window. If you hurry you'll catch him."
TARGETING: NOT CONKER.
MISSION: LEAVE ALONE AND FIND CONKER SQUIRREL.
REPLY:
"Gracias."
"I'll be back."
"Buff you, asshole."
"OKAY~"
"Thank you."<
"Thank you." said Diddy as he blew open the window and went out of it. The Terminator theme played while he did this, and faded as he left.
"Okay. I have a robot that looks like Diddy gunning for me. Great. How can this possibly--"
Electricity crackled in the room, blowing debris everywhere. A wormhole appeared, flinging out a nude female grey squirrel who landed on the bed.
Conker gawked. He then looked up at the ceiling. "Thank you!"
The squirrel brushed herself up and stood back up.
"Lt. Chestnut reporting sir!" she gave a firm salute.
"Chest..." Conker drooled.
"I'm here from ten years in the future where the Tediz* have destroyed all squirrel and human life. Your life is in grave danger as they have already sent a Terminator robot to go after you, that looks like your old friend Diddy Kong. They've also sent back the Haystack-100 as well, though you managed to defeat it without help. You are important to the squirrel resistance, where you will command our forces, and unite the people. Commander Conker, your presence is needed-- Are you paying attention?"
*: Tediz. Weaselmade creatures that look like teddy bears, but are in fact evil, nazi-like, killers. Conker fought them in BFD, and will fight them again in Conker: Live & Reloaded.
"Huh, what is tit-- I mean, what is it?"
"Commander Conker, you must listen. You must survive, you must avoid Diddy at all costs. The future is in your hands."
"Umm... Okay. So, did they send you back to 'protect' me?" Conker winked.
"No sir, I'm just here to explain the plot. You're on your own commander." she saluted, and was transported back to the future. A smaller wormhole appeared, showing a scruffier looking Conker from the future giving the past Conker a thumbs up and a smile. The tear in space vanished, leaving Conker all alone.
"At least I don't change much in the future! Now, I have to get out of here, which shouldn't be a problem with my disguise. Then I have to figure out what the ti-- Err Tediz have to do with all of this. Not to mention I have this unneverving feeling that agent from earlier is still alive somehow." Conker recapped. He stepped out the window, and into the evening sun.
Chapter 5 - I know Cut & Paste.
It was getting darker as Conker walked down the streets. Nobody seemed to recognize him, even though he was the only red squirrel in the whole town. He came to the bus station and went to the counter.
"One ticket to Mexico please."
"Sure thing, that'll be $128.94"
Conker pulled out a wad of bills and handed him the cash. The exchange was made and Conker walked out to the passenger loading area. A bus drove in front of Conker, and stopped. The doors swung open and there was Agent Weasel, wearing a Cleveland Indians baseball cap.
"Mr. Squirrel." he clenched his fists.
"Uh oh."
The agent threw his hat on the ground and pulled out a pistol. Conker ran off, with the weasel in pursuit. The chase took them all through the city, even during the darkness. Conker managed to get ahead of Agent Weasel slightly, and took a break. He rested a hand on a lamp post while breathing heavily.
"It sure is dark out tonight." he says to himself. He adjusts his sunglasses, then realizes the problem. He takes them off and smiles.
"Much better!" he slipped the glasses into his pocket. A bullet ricocheted off the lamp, inches from Conker's skull. The squirrel pulled out his dual SMGs and fired back while moving away. "Shit."
*Fast forward*
"Come out, come out wherever you are..." mocked the weasel. Diddy Kong appeared, and now in a pair of shades.
"Where is Conkah Squirrel?" said the Diddynator.
"I have no idea who you're talking about." said the weasel.
*BLAM! CHA-CHUNK*
The Terminator theme played as the robotic simian looked around for a moment, then walked off. As the song faded away, Conker let out a sigh.
"That was a close one."
"Hello Conker." said a voice from Conker's right. The squirrel freaked out as he turned to see some guy in all grey.
"AAAAHHH!"
"Don't worry, I mean you no harm. My name is Ralph."
"Oh, yes." Conker shuddered.
"I'm here to invite you to a tournament."
"AAAAHHHHH!"
"What?"
"No thanks, do you know how hard it was to get rid of my Comedic Award hosting gig? I want nothing to do with these tournaments anymore!"
"Well, that's a shame."
"Tahget sighted. Prepare for tahmination." said Diddy as the Terminator theme started up again. Conker heard rustling in the bushes.
"Okay! I'll do it! Just get me the hell out of here!" said Conker, whispering.
"Fair enough." Ralph pushed some buttons on his GBA SP machine doohickey. Smoke covered Conker and he was out cold. _________________
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Lisa Pumpkin Queen

Joined: 03 Jul 2002 Posts: 1804 Location: Fa'Diel
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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Heck with it - I'm going to merge my SXIII epilogue with my intro, here. XD;;;
Intro - Missing Truth
"How is he?"
"Still asleep. He was yelling weird stuff earlier, even - ugh - I dunno if I'd call it singing, at one point, but then he got very quiet and still and he's just been....like that for a while."
"Think he's dead?"
"Poke him and find out, Lisa."
"No, Lisa, don't -"
But Chumpy was too late. Lisa jabbed the end of her late father's broomstick into Guri's side. The sleeping - or perhaps comatose - goblin jerked sharply, his eyes flying open. They darted around among the faces above him and his current location for a few seconds before he opened his mouth and let out a long, loud scream. It was not a scream of terror, however, but of deep, unfathomable horror and anguish. Boundless grief consumed the insides of the little goblin, and showed in his face as he continued to wail, perplexing Bud, Lisa, and Chumpy. They could not imagine what was troubling him so to cry out so resonantly.
But we know the source of his torment, do we not? Yes, yes we do. And for those of you that don't, I shall take care to inform you, naturally. He had swiftly realized exactly where he was: home in Fa'Diel, at the mercy of his despised owners. He had recalled in an instant what had transpired in the disturbingly vivid dream he'd just had: the devastating loss of the power he had gained, and most importantly, his stunning good looks, which would enable him to gain many followers in his quest for world domination. Such a thing had wreaked immense damage on his twisted little soul, formed large cracks in his black heart. For Guri right now, the pain was just too deep to bear, and so he expressed it vocally.
Perhaps too vocally for those who were an unwilling audience to it.
"ARGH! SHUT UP!" Bud clamped his hands over his ears, grimacing. "Lisa, whack him with your broom, will you? This is getting on my nerves!"
"Yeah, ditto!" Lisa swung her broom, smacking Guri on the head with it. But the goblin still did not silence himself.
"Lisa, no! Don't hit him like that! And Guri, be QUIET!" Chumpy's voice raised quite dramatically in volume, and for some reason, this was what finally quieted the shrieking goblin. He stared, silent and startled, at his master, who rarely raised his voice like that. Indeed, none of them had ever heard him yell except in very serious situations. Truth be told, even Bud and Lisa were a bit unnerved.
"Now, Guri...." Chumpy rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "What's wrong that you felt the need to scream like that?"
"I don't want to talk about it!" Guri snarled, seeming more like his usual self, if just a touch more foul-tempered. "Especially not to a goody-goody like you, Crumpet! You would never understand my pain! NEVER! No one can!"
"Oi....he sounds like a bratty teenager." Lisa rolled her eyes. "Let's not ever act that stupid when WE get to be that age, Bud."
"No way, Lisa, we can't. After all...." Bud lowered his voice to a whisper, leaning towards his sister. "We'll be ruling the world with pumpkins by then, remember? We'll have lots of responsibilities, and have to act like true leaders."
"Yeah, you're right." They grinned identical evil grins.
"What are you two plotting now?" Chumpy raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing!" Bud replied hastily. "Isn't that right, Lisa?"
"You're absolutely, positively, couldn't be more right if you tried, Bud." Lisa assumed an expression that was supposed to resemble Blackpearl's usual regal, haughty manner. "Bud, shall we check on Trent while Chumpy sorts out what is troubling dear Guri?"
"Yes, Lisa, I think we shall." Bud winked at Lisa, and the two hurried out of the corral before Chumpy could say a word.
"You know, Bud, I finally figured out why that freaky clown guy that Guri was mumbling about sounded familiar," Lisa said as they walked towards the orchard.
"Yeah? Why?"
"Remember the last battle of that tournament we were in not too long ago? With that Fox guy, where the three of us were fighting that weird thing to help Kyle?"
"Yeah, I remember that....but wasn't it just a dream?"
"I....I think. No, it was real....it just seemed like a dream, but it really happened. Just....in another world or dimension or something." Lisa frowned. "I don't know, Bud, I don't really get it either. But that's not the point. Anyway....remember how the area we fought in kept changing? That guy - or someone like him - was in one of the places it changed to, remember? Some snowfield, I think."
"Oh, YEAH!" Bud grinned. "I remember now! Man, it feels like a long time ago that we did that....if we really did do it." The two grew quiet at this, pondering.
"I wonder if we'll ever know for sure if it really happened...." Lisa mused.
Was it real?
------------------------------------------------
To be continued, in Nif's intro.... _________________
PUMPKIN POWER
Thanks for the lovely sig & avatar, Nif!
Last edited by Lisa on Tue Jun 01, 2004 8:05 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Rain The Hunter

Joined: 05 Jan 2004 Posts: 154 Location: Colorado Springs
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 7:06 pm Post subject: |
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Drizzt stood atop Kelvin's Cairn, the light of the summer sun beating down on his ebony-skinned face. He'd always liked to come up on this ridge and witness the "ball of fire" finish its duty to the world and set down to rest over the Spine of the World range. He flung a stone down into the canyon, his sensitive elven hearing catching every skim and skip as the rock tottered down to the floor. The breeze flowed lightly through his white mane of hair, and he felt a nuzzle on his neck as he laid back onto the grass.
"Gwenhwyvar, how do you always manage to sneak up on me like that?"
The enormous cat, a beast from another plane, looked back at Drizzt with eyes that were filled with warmth.
"Well, I suppose I shall have to force an answer out of you!"
With a mock battle cry, Drizzt leapt up and tackled the cat, who lovingly bit at his shoulder. Laughing, Drizzt sprung to his feet, the dry grass crackling under his feet.
"What a day its been, Gwen."
Drizzt heard a noise, a crackling like a Lightning Bolt, coming from across the ridge.
A mage, here?
Drizzt nodded to Gwen, who ambled off into the wilderness.
-------
His eyes shifted now, from the normal spectrum to the infrared. The sun had set an hour before he'd journeyed out after the noise, seeking out the mage who had cast the spell. He caught onto a set of tracks he'd never seen before, human in origin but with a design he'd never seen before, especially in the frozen lands of Icewind Dale. He had figured to get a bead on the mage with more haste, but the erratic movements of his quarry led him on a trail up and around the Kairn.
"Sleep, Gwenhwyvar."
Drizzt commanded the panther, who obeyed his master, though with a small amount of sadness in his eyes. Drizzt patted the magical beast as it slowly swirled away into nothing, leaving only an onyx figurine behind. Drizzt pocketed the token, and was startled by a voice coming from behind him.
"Beautiful cat."
Drizzt spun around, his scimitars drawn so quickly that the motion was undetectable.
"Well, erm, no need to, eh...I'm Ralph."
Drizzt looked the strange human up and down, his clothes of a design that he had never seen before. His clothing offered no warmth, only a solid even grey tone. He shifted his eyes to regular vision, and was again greeted by the same even, bland gray tone.
"What magic is this, mage?"
Ralph looked at Drizzt oddly, then remembered where he had appeared and what his clothing must appear like to the adrenaline-fueled elf.
"Ah, well, you see, I'm Ralph, and I've come to give you a chance to get away from all the killing and heartache that surrounds you here. If you come with me, I can show you a world without judgement, without hatred, without the pain of losing all that you love."
Drizzt scowled at Ralph, his blades still drawn, his stance still even and balanced.
"And I suppose the Batezuu will simply swing the door open and invite me in for supper, eh Errtu?"
Ralph was still more than slightly confused, but decided it was best to stay on the predetermined track.
"Well, I don't know who these Batezuu are, but you can rest assured that where I can take you will feature none of the evils they perpetrate. And best of all, I can return you to this exact place and time when it is time for you to return. Nobody will ever know you left."
Drizzt eyed the man for a moment. His stance, his demeanor, his tone of voice all seemed as if he could be genuine. Drizzt decided to take a chance, if for nothing more than curiousity. His blades slowly lowered, with a visible and clear hesitance. They did not return to their sheaths.
"A bit better, erm yes. So, are you willing to take this chance to escape the struggles you face as a drow and live in a world where none of that matters, if only for a short while?"
Drizzt couldn't help but be intrigued. A world where he could approach someone without them automatically judging him, or casting down their eyes, or attacking on sight. Nobody could have known he felt this way, except for his closest friends, and they couldn't have conjured such a ruse.
"I can return back to this moment, right now?"
"Yes."
Drizzt pondered for a moment, and nodded to the grey mage, Ralph.
"We shall see how good this offer is."
Ralph smiled, and moved slowly towards Drizzt, producing a small handpad from his pocket. Drizzt watched the man closely, his weapons still drawn.
"No need to fear, my lad."
The man pushed in on a few buttons, which perplexed the drow right up until he realized he wasn't conscious anymore. _________________
14WP-5JP-0A-0R-1Cure |
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Peptuck The Warthog...of DOOM!

Joined: 05 Nov 2003 Posts: 546 Location: On Halo and loving it
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Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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Bullets pinged off the hood of the police car as Rosie ducked down behind it. Beside her, another officer traded fire with the ski-masked jewel robbers, who themselves opened up with automatic fire. The officer ducked quickly, barely avoiding being sliced in two by the hot metal.
Rosie Velasquez cursed under her breath. The jewel theives, five in total, were well-armed and armored, and easily outguned the twenty or so cops arranged around the jewel store they'd been robbing minutes ago. As an EOD officer, Rosie had pretty much the entire city under her jurisdiction, and would respond to any crime taking place nearby.
"Damn, there's too many!" the officer beside Rosie muttered as he reloaded his Beretta. Rosie preferred to carry something heavier than the 9mm Beretta 92FS most officers used, a Glock 20 in particular. She poked her head over the hood of the police car as the robbers trained their attention to another vehicle, stitching it with bullets. She leveled her pistol, readied to fire, and then ducked as one of the robbers strafed their car.
"We'll never take them out like this!" Rosie shouted, her voice barely carrying her Hispanic accent.
"I heard SWAT's on the way," the officer said, firing a pair of shots. "But I don't think they'll get here in time."
Rosie risked a glance, to see the robbers slowly but surely making their way to their getaway vehicle, a white van parked on the street corner. They sprayed gunfire from automatic weapons into the hot LA air, keeping the police pinned down. One thug hopped into the van and began to start it while his comrades continued firing.
Then Rosie spotted something coming arounf the street corner, leaping the curb. At one moment, Rosie was both cursing and feeling elation, ecause she recognized the beat-up old brown convertible as it slammed headlong into the white van. The getaway vehicle was knocked off its wheels from the sheer force of the impact, and slammed on its side. Two of the robbers turned to fire on the convertible, but the dirver had already leaped clear of his vehicle, and came up behind a tree with twin .45s drawn.
"Man, nice party," Nick Kang said, poking his head around the tree at the robbers. He spun out, crouching low, and leveled the pistol in his left hand at the nearest robber. "Why wasn't I invited?" The red laser tracked over the man's right knee, and Nick fired. The heavy slug blew apart the robber's kneecap, and he fell screaming.
Nick risked a quick glance around as he ducked behind his tree again. One of the robbers turned an AKSU submachinegun on Nick and emptied the magazine at him, the bullets tearing into the tree. The remaining two robbers began to fall back, running down the opposite end of the street. The van's driver baegan to crawl out of the vehicle, emerging only a few feet away from Nick.
"Tsk tsk," Nick responded to the gunfire, looking up at the abused tree. "Greenpeace would disapprove, you know." He returned fire at the robber, who ducked behind a bullet-riddled car. Nick then glanced back at the van driver, and then dove for that robber. The man had lost his weapon on the crash, but whipped out a knife as Nick closed. Not bothering with the pistols, Nick holstered them as he leaned back from the first cut.
"Careful with that thing," Nick said as the man cut again. "You could put someone's eye out!" The robber then stabbed forward at Nick, who snapped his left hand up and caught the thrusting wrist. Nick then punched the man with his right fist, a hard blow that shattered the robber's nose, before following up with a snap-kick that cracked a pair of ribs as Nick's foot met the man's stomach. Before the robber could recover, Nick then grabbed the man's knife hand with both arms and flipped him over to kiss the pavement. A quick twist and pull of the man's arm caused him to scream in pain and drop the knife, and Nick wasted no time in wrestling the man's other arm around behind his back and snapping pair of handcuffs on the man's wrists.
The robber with the AKSU had reloaded by this time, and rose from behind cover. Nick threw himself backward out of the man's line of fire, and whipped out his pistols. Nick rolled behind the robbers' overturned van as bullets sprayed the vehicle. Nick then spun around the van and sighted the thug in his pistols' scopes. he lined up with the man's chest and squeezed off a barrage of rounds. Four bullets tore into the man's chest, punching through his body armor, and threw the man to the pavement.
The raging battle had moved by this time, the two remaining robbers having run further down the street, trading fire with the cops. Even as Nick was finishing with the third robber, they had carjacked an onlooker's vehicle, a pickup truck, and were already driving away. Police scrambled to their cars to pursue, only to find the majority of their crusiers were too badly damaged by the exchange of fire to still drive effectively. Nick realized the problem and wasted no time rushing to the perimeter of the battle. As an Elite Operations Division agent, Nick had the authority to commandeer any vehicle or equipment he needed in the pursuit of criminals. Obviously, he used the priviledge quite often, to the ire of the EOD's complaint department. Nick spotted one nearby vehicle that he could use. it would be a bit unwieldly, but it would work.
Rosie's mouth opened wide as Nick thundered through the battlezone in a city bus. he waved jauntily to his partner as he passed, before turning the corner in pursuit of the criminals.
Ordinarily, a bus wouldn't be effective in chasing down a pair of escaping suspects in a pickup truck. However, Nick knew the streets of LA like the back of his hand, and so, as the robbers turned a corner at high speeds, they were caught completely off-guard as a city bus with a very insane cop driving it bore down on them.
"In LA, the bus catches you!" Nick shouted to the robbers.
Three seconds later, Nick stepped off the slightly damaged bus and ran up to the pickup truck, which was a good thirty feet way, on fire, and two-thirds its normal length. One robber lay unconcious beside it, while a second was stumbling away, dazed by the impact with the city bus. The man stopped for a second, looked up, and took one of Kick's shoes in the face. The man fell like a sack of bricks.
"Just be happy I didn't take the subway," Nick commented as he cuffed the two men. Moments later, sirens heralded the approach of those cops whose cruisers could still move.
Damn, he thought, this was gonna take one assload of paperwork. _________________
The Cheeese pwns j00. |
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Seril Eternity Eight

Joined: 29 Apr 2004 Posts: 131 Location: Lost Ground
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Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 9:42 am Post subject: |
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Slightly altered story is up!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“It’s been three years since the last attack from the mainland. Today, we of the NRRP are here at the Hope Festival to help celebrate our third year of independency! Now, back to you Ann.”
*click*
Asuka turned off the T.V., and returned to his computer. “It is true how these days have been peaceful… but I wish they weren’t so care-free. Another attack from the mainland could come at any time.”
“But that’s why we have you, my dear Asuka!” Cammy replied, as she walked into the room, grinning. “Come on, you’ve been working nonstop ever since you received that letter… Come and have some fun with me at the fair!”
“Maybe you’re right... Go on ahead, I’ll catch up as soon as I shut everything down.”
As Cammy left the room, Asuka sighed. The letter in question had been sent by an unknown source, telling him to be ready for a “surprise” on this day’s date. That wasn’t the only thing that worried him. Eelian had contacted him a week ago about the same kind of letter being delivered to him, and Asuka hasn’t heard from him since.
“I can’t just go running in and telling everyone that there is a possible threat. It would cause the entire island to panic. As well, Ryuho and Kazuma are still nowhere to be found.” Asuka continued saying to himself as he hit the button on the computer to shut it off, and walked outside.
There isn’t much I can do about it, except wait for the surprise to come.
“My, were you just thinking about me?”
Asuka spun around, coming to see a figure shrouded by the shadows of his house leaning against the house’s door. “Who are you? What do you want with me?”
“Don’t be so hasty. The last one rushed through things far too fast, I want to have some fun.” The figure stepped forward, coming out of the shadows and revealing himself. Dressed in a black suit, the tall -man had long, raven black hair. His eyes were covered with sunglasses, but a faint blue glow emanated behind them.
One thing Asuka failed to notice before became very apparent now. Being held, well, impaled, by three claws on the man’s wrist was a limp female figure, covered in blood. “No… Y-you didn’t…” Asuka fell to the ground weeping. “The people here haven’t done anything to you, and you killed her! My love!”
The man chuckled, “You seem to misunderstand me, my dear Tachibana Asuka. The people here don’t interest me at all. The person I want… is… you!” Laughing, he threw off his glasses as the same array of colors washed through the area. Creating a few more craters, the man was slowly sheathed in a blue aura. “Let me introduce myself. My name is Asura, Alter Slayer with an efficiency rating of one-hundred percent. I want to see you suffer, to see you know there is no hope before you die!”
Asuka slowly rose up from the ground as the same vivid array of colors spread throughout the area, creating several small craters in the dirt, and eight jade orbs began floating around Asuka. Tears falling from his face, Asuka’s head faced up, staring at the man. “I’ll make you pay, pay for it all!”
Asuka extended his hand towards Asura, one orb flying at him. Reaching his forehead, the orb slammed itself into it… only to crumble as fall down as soon as it made contact.
He avoided it!?
The man revealed as Asura chuckled once more. “Please, I know that this isn’t your full strength. Show me it! Show me your revenge!”
The fallen orb replaced with another, Asuka grimaced. “My alter is the Eternity Eight, the jade orbs that control life! I won’t be beaten!” All eight orbs lined up in a row, suddenly sheathed in a green light. Asuka dashed at Asura at a frightening speed, slashing down at the man with a all of his strength. Asura raised his hand and caught the sword as if it were nothing more than a plastic baton. He clenched the sword, and shattered it.
“You don’t seem to get it. Attacks like that simply won’t work.” Still chuckling annoyingly, Asura leaped over Asuka, raising his hand with his palm out flat towards Asuka. “Let me show you what I mean.” The blue aura around Asura intensified, and a wave of it separated and rushed at Asuka. The wave hit, launching Asuka into and out of the other side of the house.
On the other side, Asuka slammed into a car, collapsing down to the ground in front of one of the car doors. Unexpectedly, out of the other door, a short man seemingly encased in gray stepped out of the car, holding a small console with various buttons on it. “Sir? My name is Ralph, and I have come to-“
“What the… Please, sir, get out of here! This isn’t the place for someone like you right now!” Groaning, Asuka slowly stood up. Closing his eyes, the eight orbs encircled him once more. He shot out his left arm, and a bow materialized around it. Please work… “Eternity Extra Shot! DIE!” All eight orbs lined up in the bow, and Asuka released the orbs, all eight flying through the house to their target.
Ralph looked at Asuka and simply said, “Oh my.”
On the other side, Asura was slowly walking towards the house when eight orbs suddenly shot out of it, and smacked straight into his forehead. Groaning in pain, Asura knelt to the ground. “There… it is… his full power!” Suddenly Asura’s eyes flashed, and the blue aura around him condensed into a blue mist. The spheres disintegrated, and the mist vanished, suddenly appearing around Asuka.
“What’s happening!?” Asuka felt like his very soul was being ripped out of his body. Screaming out in pain, he cried out “What are you doing!?”
A voice from seemingly nowhere appeared in Asuka’s head. “I should of explained this before really. Soon you will be merged with me, your alter mine. Just like the others. Now, let’s see if your emotions are powerful enough to take me there!”
The pain intensifying, Asuka lost his voice. Cammy, I’m sorry. I just can’t continue… I’ll see you soon. Asuka went limp. This, this isn’t me… I can’t give up! For Cammy! She wouldn’t want me to be like this! Screaming once more, the same vivid array of colors as before began to combat the blue mist.
“Yes! This is it! The power of the other side!” Laughing, the mist vanished into the colors. Shortly after, so did Asuka. As well as Ralph, who shouldn’t be forgotten.
…
…
…
Floating in a dimension of an odd energy, Asuka opened his eyes. He was faced with, once more, Ralph. “Ugh… Who are you, really?”
“Why, I believe I told you before, before I was quite rudely interrupted. My name is Ralph, and I have come to offer you a world free of fighting, pain, and suffering.”
Asuka blinked. “A world with Cammy… can you do—Wait… no. What is done is done. I can’t run from my past again.”
Ralph frowned. Consulting his console, he pushed a few buttons. “Well, I could offer you the power of this ‘other side’. With it, you would be able to take your own revenge on that man.”
Asuka blinked again. Slowly putting the pieces together, he replied, “Wait a second… You must be the one that granted Ryuho and Kazuma their extra power over alters. Yes! Please!”
“Very well.” Ralph pushed a button, and the dimension was covered in a gray fog. Asura fell unconscious, but not without one last unsettling thought:
Wasn’t that man the same who killed Ryuho’s parents? And wasn’t he black and white, not gray? _________________

Last edited by Seril on Tue May 25, 2004 6:11 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Moogle Chased by destiny

Joined: 28 Dec 2003 Posts: 117 Location: Maryland, USA
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Posted: Sun May 23, 2004 6:04 pm Post subject: |
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HINATA.52.5 Pan-Universal Tournament for the Conflicted Heart
Christmas Day, 1999
Hinata Girls' Dormitory
Hinata City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
As the rays from the rising sun peeked in through his windows, Keitaro Urashima continued to toss and turn on his simple futon, the same as he had done the entire night.
It was not an irregular occurrence for him in any way, shape, or form. Keitaro, a third year ronin (that is, someone who has taken and failed university entrance exams three years in a row,) was preparing to take the Tokyo University entrance exams for the fourth time in another couple of months. The difference was that most of the time when he was up all night it was because he was studying with Naru, or perhaps Naru and Mutsumi.
The two women who made up the rest of his studying trio were indeed the reason that he was up all night, but it was not for the usual reason. There was not any studying that night, only Keitaro and his conflicted heart. Conflicted between Naru and Mutsumi.
'I can still picture it like it was only yesterday...' he thought with a sigh, not stopping for a moment to realize that it was, in fact, only yesterday. 'All I wanted to do was give her that cute outfit, then she had to go and drop that bomb on me.'
That metaphorical bomb in question was Naru's revelation to him that the girl from his memories was actually Mutsumi. Or so she concluded. Keitaro had no idea, but believed it because Naru said it. And immediately after that was said... they wanted him to pick between them! As though he could do that on such short notice. Sure, he loved Naru, but how could he just reject Mutsumi if she really was his promised girl? She'd gone for fifteen years studying just to get in because of that promise, too!
Though he was abused because of it, he avoided having to pick between them then, and quickly retired to his room... where he stayed up all night agonizing and angsting about having to make that choice.
As his senses registered some of the tell-tale signs of morning at the Hinata House - the smell of breakfast wafting up from the kitchen, the chirping of birds from around the grounds, the sight of the rising sun - he sighed, which turned into some kind of mix of a sigh and a yawn. 'I'm going to have to do something about this eventually...' Though, his name would not be Keitaro Urashima if he didn't put things off for as long as he possibly could, preferably long enough to allow other people to take the initiative.
Resigned to existing in that miserable situation, he shuffled across his room towards the door, slid it open, and stepped out into the hallway.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS, KEITARO!"
Keitaro turned to look at the source of the shout, and was greeted by a flying kick to the face courtesy of none other than Kaolla Su.
"Why me?!" Keitaro wailed as the foot connected with his jaw, sending him bouncing down the hallway like a pinball ricocheting off of a number of bumpers.
He skidded across the floor and bumped into another door, staring up at the ceiling and trying to catch his breath.
That door slid open and his head fell back and hit the floor. "Hmm? What's all this noise?" The occupant of the room leaned out and peered into the hallway, then looked down at Keitaro on the ground and grinned like a fox in a hen house.
"K-K-K-K-Kitsune?" he stuttered, but the fox did not even hear him.
And a fox she was. The room next to Keitaro belonged to Mitsune Konno, but everyone called her Kitsune. "Ahh, Keitaro," she said, raising one of her narrowed eyes to get a better look at him. "Finally decided to break the bonds of a landlord-tenant relationship, hmm? And on Christmas morning!" She reached down with both hands to drag him into her room, and it was at that moment that Keitaro finally looked at her and saw what she was wearing.
Perhaps more accurately stated, what she was not wearing. All that she had on was lingerie.
Keitaro's nose exploded with blood and he let out a scream unbefitting any manly man. He could have cared less, though, all of his energy was focused on backpedaling from Kitsune's room immediately. 'Doesn't she sleep with clothes on?!' he wondered incredulously as he backed again through the hallway at a manic pace.
During the course of this frantic crawling backwards - with both Su and Kitsune following after him - one of his hands flailed out and caught a hold of another door that slid open from his grip. Without really meaning to, he looked over into the room that was revealed, and to that end caught a glimpse of Motoko Aoyama while she was changing clothes.
In a blink of an eye she caught sight of him and grabbed her kendo sword. "URASHIMA!" she screamed, a raging and vengeful look settling on her face, "I have endured your twisted perversions for the last time. Secret Arts! Air Slashing Strike!"
The gust of wind produced by the sword technique blew Keitaro backwards and out an open window in the hallway. Somehow, he caught hold of the awning on his way out and tried to swing his body to land through the window one story above his current location. The plan probably would have worked, too, if only he wasn't Keitaro Urashima and thus one of the unluckiest human beings - if not the unluckiest - in the entirety of the known (and probably even the unknown) universe.
So he floated up gracefully and was about to make it through the window, when he was struck straight in the face by an ancient artifact made of some sort of earthenware. As he plummeted to the ground, Sara popped out the window and waved to him. "Merry Christmas, ya moron!"
Keitaro crashed to the ground and felt something crunch underneath him. He stood up and was in the process of rubbing his aching skull when he heard someone start crying. "What? What's wrong?" he looked around to find the source of that crying, and saw amidst scattered bags and boxes of groceries, Shinobu. It seemed that he'd landed on her while she was carrying food to the kitchen.
"Wait, Shinobu, I'm sor-" he began.
"You made Shinobu cry again? You idiot!" He knew that voice, and that tone of voice, right away.
The landlord spun on his heels to face the most beautiful person in the world, the apple of his eye, the bee in his bonnet, as well as any number of other choice turns of phrase to refer to the woman he loved more than any other. And as she strode towards him purposefully, with the rays of the rising sun catching her just so, he was reminded again just why he loved her. Besides, she was just so cute when she scowled, and there was a scowl not to be easily matched on her face.
He was in the middle of a content sigh when Naru's fist flung forward and uppercutted him straight into the sky. Trailing behind him like the tail of a comet were the tears that flooded forth from his eyes.
Thus far, it was a typical morning in the Hinata Apartments.
***
Keitaro came crashing down to the ground at the foot of the bridge from his memories. It only served to remind him of his dilemma, having to choose between Naru and Mutsumi. It was from that bridge that he watched the girl from his memories drive off when she left the Hinata House all those years ago.
"Man, I made a mess of everything again," he said to himself, chuckling ruefully. "It always turns out like this." Not that he wasn't used to it, because he was. It was all that happened, so of course he got used to it. But it would be nice to have things be a bit more calm every once in a while. 'Maybe I can find some place where I don't have to worry about anything, entrance exams, girls, or being the landlord...'
HOOOOOOOOOONK HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK
That honking was familiar to him, too. He looked for the source of it, and as he suspected, speeding across the bridge was a large, white van. Suddenly, it heaved to, and began rolling end over end straight towards where Keitaro stood. His jaw dropped and he could only stare with a deer-in-headlights look as the van rolled to a halt right in front of him.
The driver's side door popped open, and out leapt his boss, Seta, who had a nasty gash with blood freely flowing down his face.
"Hey, part-timer!" Seta shouted, waving.
"Seta-san?! Your head is bleeding!"
"Oh, yeah, I guess it is." The archaelogist reached into his coat and pulled out a bandage, which he placed on his forehead without even looking.
Keitaro fell over. 'How does he do that?!'
"Anyway, I was on a dig, and I found my way into some cave, and there was this guy who was looking for you! He said that he had to see you right away, so I brought him straight here." Seta laughed, finding something funny with that. Then, suddenly remembering something, he added, "By the way, Merry Christmas!"
Visions flashed through the young man's mind of what horror might possibly be in that van, unearthed in a cave and looking just for him. Perhaps it was a psychotic killer, hell-bent to get revenge on his family. Maybe there was some demon out to get him for no apparent reason. The one common thread between all of those visions was that they ended with Keitaro's death in a rather gruesome way.
He turned to run away, screaming, when Seta put a hand on his shoulder. The older man smiled as though nothing was wrong. "His name's Ralph."
'Ralph?! What kind of an evil name is Ralph?' Much too late, he realized that it wasn't much of an evil name, and perhaps he was overreacting a bit. Unless it was all a front to lower his guard...
"Ralph" climbed out of the van from the passenger seat, and as Keitaro looked at him, he saw the greyest person he'd ever seen. It wasn't that he was glum, it was just that everything about him was grey. The man was short, shorter than even Keitaro, dressed in a businessman's suit and slacks, and with a top hat, all of which were grey. Those were not so unusual. It was the grey hair, eyes, and skin that were really weird for Keitaro to behold.
"Well," Seta cut in as he climbed back into the van, "now that you've been introduced, I'd better get back to the site. Bye!" The van righted itself, did a U-turn while not moving, and sped off as quickly as it appeared.
Ralph dusted himself off, an action that struck Keitaro as absurd, since everything about him was grey anyway. "Hello there. Keitaro Urashima?"
'So he was looking for me after all...' "Yeah," Keitaro replied. "That's me. What do you want?" More than a little bit of him was curious. For that matter, more than a big bit of him was curious.
"From what I understand, you could use a bit of a reprieve from your daily life, correct?" There was something about the man that was strange - not just that everything he owned was grey, except for something black he was clutching in his right hand. It was the way he spoke. His Japanese was flawless, but there was some kind of accent that Keitaro couldn't place.
"I have been looking for some time where I can be free of all that's bugging me..." Keitaro admitted, not sure why he was doing so.
"Perhaps I could interest you in a vacation of sorts," Ralph told him. "I'm afraid there's not much I can say about it now, but before you ask, at the conclusion of the festivities you will be returned at this exact place and time with only the memories of your getaway. There, you will have no need to study or worry about your two lady friends. I can also assure you that you will not be lacking things to do during this sojourn. What do you think?"
Under normal circumstances, Keitaro would have hesitated in making his response for as long as possible, but the appearance of the man in front of him hardly qualified as normal circumstances, even for one as used to a bizarre life as Keitaro Urashima happened to be. He could not deny that he could use a break from studying and from having to worry about Naru and Mutsumi.
"Should I go get some clothes?"
Ralph blinked without emotion. "You will easily be able to acquire new attire at our destination."
"I guess that settles it, then. Count me in."
"Excellent," Ralph replied, pulling out the thing in his hand and tapping a few things on it. "Stand by."
Mists began to swirl up around him. Keitaro thought nothing of it, as the Hinata City area was prone to random mist appearances.
Tama-chan flew out of the mists and landed on his shoulder. "Myuh," the hot springs turtle said, waving.
Almost immediately after that, the mists grew thicker, and of the journey, Keitaro remembered no more. |
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Bugenhagen Walkin' On Sunshine

Joined: 02 Jul 2002 Posts: 658 Location: Pop Star
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Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 11:38 am Post subject: |
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Introduction: Part 1
Interview with the Raccoon
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The small, quiet burg of Fourside had grown rapidly in its day. In a few short years, the town had burst from a population of five to a population of six hundred thousand and eighty-two. It might have been difficult to pin down exactly where this surge in the population had come from, as many of the original city dwellers would give you a different account on the growth of Fourside. Officer Copper, for example, would state that it was because of the lawful environment and the safety of the city. Mabel the seamstress, however, would say that it was because Fourside was the center of fashion, and the world was bound to have caught up and flocked to Fourside sooner or later.
But deep down in the hearts of every one of the people living in Fourside, the reason for the city turning from a quiet town into a surging metropolis was a single store. The only store, in fact, in the congested streets and high rises of Fourside. This single, massive department store rose above the city, sparkling like a jewel in the otherwise smog-ridden town.
The name of this store is Nookington’s. And its proprietor single handedly saved the entire economic crisis of Fourside, which he certainly didn’t cause himself, thankyouverymuch. He is a hero in the town’s eyes. A savior of the people, one who will go out of his way to make prices low and things right. The Robin Hood of the 21st century. He is…
Senile.
Tom Nook sat behind the counter of Nookington’s, fast asleep. His eyes were closed, his gray-brown fur wet with drool as he laid back in his reclining chair. His nose twitched, and his paw moved up to scratch it. He tried to sleep, but a slight pitter-patter sound rose him to consciousness.
“What?” he croaked, getting up. “Shpeak, or I’ll ram my cane in ya!” he growled. Nook grabbed his glasses and his teeth, then teetered over to the door. “I’m warnin’ ya!” he yelled. “Come in here and I’ll whallop you good!”
The rain continued pouring, oblivious to Nook’s threats.
“I thought so,” he said, smirking. “I taught him a thing or two…”
He looked around the room, expecting to see a crowd of people cheering him on or congratulating him. Nobody moved. Nobody said anything. Nobody told him what a hero he was, how he saved them from the dark shadows of the rain outside. Probably because the store was empty.
“Ungrateful cur,” muttered Nook as he hobbled back to the desk. “What are you looking at?” he shot at a poster of Katrina, advertising her new energy drink. He smirked at her silence. “Yeah, KEEP looking. You know you’ll never get my body. The worms may have gotten my brain, but you’ll never get this sex-fiend in YOUR hellish bed!”
He sighed as he sank into his chair. Things WERE a little quiet. Almost too quiet, in fact. He looked at his flier and noticed that there was a sale today; people should be running around and spending all their money foolishly right about now. The lights were on, the sign was lit, the clock was…
The clock said 5:00. AM. Nook squinted at the digital numbers, making sure that he got it right. No mistaking it. He had came to work four hours early. Again.
He looked around the room in sadness. Things weren’t the same. Maybe it was him? Did he lack the same style, grace, jaw-dropping amazing qualities that he had when he was younger? Impossible! He still had them! And he would show it to those laughing cans of fruit in Aisle 7!
His hands darted down to his secret compartment under the desk. His paws found the secret black box. His dexterous fingers passed by the silent alarm, the instant lockdown, the fire extinguishing system, the autodial for the hospital, the funeral home, and Pizza Hut, and found the last button. THE button. The one button to rule them all.
His fingers pushed it. The lights snapped off. The doors swung open. The black lights began to glow. The disco ball dropped from the ceiling. And funky music began to blare from the speakers.
“WELCOME TO CLUB NOOK!” called Nook, spreading his flabby arms wide. “We’re the hottest nightclub in town! Always raving, and always awesome! Rock, rock hard!”
I'm too sexy for my love.
Too sexy for my love,
Love's going to leave me.
He grabbed some gold chains, tinted sunglasses, and a walker as he began to dance. Scenes more horrifying have never graced the town of Forside. He slowly began stripping off his shirt as he moved seductively to the music. His sagging, bulging stomach burst the last two buttons off.
I'm too sexy for my shirt.
Too sexy for my shirt,
So sexy it hurts.
And I'm too sexy for Milan.
Too sexy for Milan,
New York and Japan.
And I'm too sexy for your party.
Too sexy for your party,
No way I'm disco dancing!
He climbed up onto the counter, swinging his large butt and tail seductively. Once on the top, he dropped his pants and kicked them to the side. Nook danced atop the checkout line in tight, white underwear, wiping the old man drool from his chin and winking at the stuffed animal display.
I'm a model; you know what I mean.
And I do my little turn on the catwalk.
Yeah on the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah.
I do my little turn on the catwalk.
I'm too sexy for my car.
Too sexy for my car,
Too sexy by far.
And I'm too sexy for my hat.
Too sexy for my hat,
What do you think about that?
I'm a model; you know what I mean.
And I do my little turn on the catwalk.
Yeah on the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah.
I shake my little tush on the catwalk.
I'm too sexy for my-
Too sexy for my-
Too sexy for my-
And indeed, Nook did shake his tush on the catwalk, which resulted in a loud crack as his hip snapped. He grimaced, but a little thing like a painful injury wasn’t going to stop him! He was in the zone! He leapt from the counter and onto the floor, posing as his body sagged everywhere. He spun around, ripped the Katrina poster from the wall, and passionately kissed it.
'Cos I'm a model; you know what I mean.
And I do my little turn on the catwalk.
Yeah on the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah.
I shake my little tush on the catwalk.
I'm too sexy for my cat.
Too sexy for my cat,
Poor pussy, poor pussy cat.
I'm too sexy for my love.
Too sexy for my love,
Love's going to leave me.
And I'm too sexy for this-
“AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!” screamed a high-pitched, familiar voice. Nook spun around to see his great-nephews, Timmy and Tommy, standing in the doorway. Timmy’s eyes were wide, his jaw dropped, the young raccoon scared to death of what his uncle was doing. Tommy was covering his eyes, quietly sobbing. Nook looked at the rumpled poster of Katrina in his arms.
“It’s not what you-- I was only-- She came on to me!” he declared, dropping the poster to the ground, exposing his tight white underwear to the kids.
“AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!” screamed the kids in unison, and Timmy covered his eyes as well. Tommy curled up in a ball and began to cry.
“It’s not what you think, kids,” explained Nook as he quickly grabbed a spare apron and tied it around him. “What the heck were you doing around here, anyways? The store opens at seven!”
“Eight, Uncle Nook.”
“Eight, then!”
Tommy stopped sniffling and took his hands from his eyes. “Well,” he explained, “We were all rather worried about you. You never came home last night. So we all gathered together and started a search party through Fourside. We were about to give up.”
“But then when we heard this cheesy music, and suddenly, we just KNEW,” said Timmy. “What the heck were you doing, anyways, Uncle Nook? That’s some of the scariest stuff I’ve ever seen.”
Nook laughed a hoarse laugh. “That? Scary? HAH! I used to do stuff like that all the time! And women would flock around me, begging me to come away with them and to father their children! What you saw was MILD, kids.”
The kids wrinkled their noses in disgust, although half of what Nook was talking about went straight over their heads. “So…” said Timmy, looking puzzled. “You actually was once… cool?”
“Cool!” laughed Nook. “Why, in my day, I was quite the slim wicket! If you looked me up in the dictionary, there would be my picture, probably posing in a suit with a sexy broad in my arms! Why, back then, we didn’t even use the word “cool”. You used the word “Nook”. A guy would be struttin’ down the street, and someone might say, ‘He is SO Nook… I’m going to make out with him right now!’ or something like that. I was quite the stud raccoon!”
Tommy looked to Timmy. Both of them looked surprised. “You mean, you weren’t always old? Did you sleep all the time, then? Did you still sit around and scowl at the weather?”
There was a twinkle in Nook’s eye, as he remembered back to the old days. “No, kids, I was quite the adventurer. Bad guys shivered when they heard the name ‘Tom Nook.’ I beat everyone who came against me, and I’m still standing!”
Timmy scoffed. “I don’t believe you, Uncle Nook. There’s no bad guys in Fourside, and I don’t think you’ve fought once in your life.” Tommy slowly nodded.
Nook chuckled and sank into his chair behind the counter. “You don’t believe me, kids? That’s OK. Because my adventures didn’t take place in Fourside.”
“Where did you go?” asked Timmy, as the two gathered around their uncle and sat down. “Summers Island?”
“Crud?” asked Tommy, looking up at his uncle.
“Further away from that, I’m afraid,” said Nook, chuckling. “Do you want to hear the story? We’ve got three hours until opening time, and nothing better to do…”
“Yeah!” shouted the kids in unison.
Nook grinned and leaned back. He laced his fingers back as he looked up towards the ceiling and began to recall his past. And slowly, he began his story. _________________
This Summer, Think Pink |
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Seril Eternity Eight

Joined: 29 Apr 2004 Posts: 131 Location: Lost Ground
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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If you've read my story before this post, I suggest you go reread it. A major change happened, and that'll affect Asuka's state of mind greatly. _________________
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Helmar Brilliant Reflection

Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 32
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2004 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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“It’s been nearly a year since then, hasn’t it?”
“Puu.”
“The rebuilding has been going pretty well, I think. Considering all this used to be rubble-filled wasteland”, a gloved hand waved at the lush landscape, “the people have done pretty well even after Debonair.”
“Puu.”
“I think the monster attacks are even getting to be less frequent; we may finally be finishing off the last ones created by the people’s fear.”
“Puu.”
“I suppose we didn’t need a Pillar after all.”
“Puu.”
“And why, pray tell,” the voice rose in volume with every word, “won’t you ever say anything other than PUU!”
“Puu puu?”
Nova looked at Mokona, who only stared at her, a cherubic grin on his features. Nova sighed, and wondered why she was always the one who got stuck with Mokona. Granted, no one was really able to prevent Mokona from following anyone he wanted to, and it was nice to not have to forage or sleep on the ground for a change... She eyed her erstwhile “guardian”, wondering for the thousandth time what secrets Mokona hid beneath his bubbly exterior.
“Mokona, do you ever think that they think about us? About the world they saved, about the people left behind?”
Mokona paused for a moment, then slowly nodded and uttered a grave and profound “Puu.”
Nova grinned, happy that someone felt as she did. Even if it was Mokona. She picked up Mokona, and perched him on her shoulder. Nova’s own contribution to rebuilding Cephiro was protecting the towns and villages that had sprung up, further and further away from the castle. Though overly destructive monsters were now somewhat of a rarity, they still appeared often enough to warrant Nova’s intervention.
“I guess we can’t sit here all day just thinking.” Nova said with a sigh. “We may as well head out and find the monster the villagers told us about. It still bothers me though; I could have sworn we already cleaned out the most predatory monsters around here. And why anyone would build a town on the edge of the Forest of Silence is still beyond me…”
* * *
The Forest of Silence actually was a rather strange place; considering everything else in Cephiro, that was saying something. Like Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu discovered as they sought Presea, the Forest was aptly named. It was a place where even the most powerful mages couldn’t cast so much as a simple spell of light. As well, hidden somewhere within the Forest was the two-dimensional Legendary Fountain Eternia (sadly, Umi’s idea to rename it the Weirdo Fountain Eternia never really caught on). Due to its magic-dead nature, it was a natural refuge for monsters; most hunters hesitated to track anything into the forest where no magic could be cast…much less any monster with the intelligence to recognize and exploit this fact.
Nova paused a moment on the border of the forest and the plains. She had the oddest sensation that she was being watched. Slowly pivoting on one foot, she took in her surroundings. Nothing seemed amiss, and the wildlife still made noise, not the telltale silence an intruder would cause. Shrugging it off as a byproduct of her annoyance at not being able to cast magic in the near future, she summoned her borrowed swords from her glove. While no one was sure whether her energy blades were technically magic, it never paid to be cocky. She quickly checked the sword for any weaknesses, looked at Mokona, replaced the sword, nodded, and walked into the forest, quickly disappearing into the underbrush.
A grey figure appeared where Nova had been standing moments before. He looked around, an eyebrow raised as he failed to notice anyone in the area. The figure shrugged, took a look at his small computer, and followed the same path Nova had taken.
* * *
Nova stared at the bird from her concealment on the ground. As birds went, it did seem rather odd: one eye in the center of the forehead, tiny gems and a long horn set in a semi-circle around said eye, one large taloned foot, and a serpent’s tail weren’t quite the norm for birds. This bird was the monster the village had asked for assistance with, and that filled Nova with no small amount of dread. This bird was quite possibly the most dangerous inhabitant of the Forest of Silence; completely immune to blows from any weapon, and only living in the one place in Cephiro where magic couldn’t touch it, these birds were indeed top of the roost in the Forest for good reason.
She pondered the few ways she could kill it. Mokona was as usual no help after having disappeared. Only two ideas really came to mind, neither one very appealing. She could try to lure other monsters to it, and hopefully several lesser monsters would be able to kill the bird, or –
“Nova Shido, I presume? I’d like to offer you…”
She quickly turned around, and noticed three things. First, the person who called her name was exceedingly…grey. The second was that judging from the device he held he was one of the researchers from Autozam, far off the beaten path. The third was a very loud sound of air moving, proof that the bird couldn’t possibly have missed hearing the speaker.
Crud.
Nova quickly grabbed the grey suited man, ignored his startled squawk of protest, and jumped as high into the air as she could possibly manage. Hanging from one of the highest branches of a tree, she stared down at the bird’s back. Apparently confused at having its prey disappear so suddenly, the bird was quickly looking around, hoping to catch its fleeing prey’s blur of motion through the underbrush. Nova quickly considered her options, limited as they were. An idea came to mind, and she acted on it before the absurdity of it could hit her.
She summoned her swords out of her glove, quickly swinging the grey suited man out of their path. Maybe the bird caught the figure’s swaying, or the swords’ fall, or perhaps it felt its own mortality all too keenly. The falling swords pierced the monster’s head and back, and the bird fell to the ground, motionless. Nova let out a sigh of relief; apparently, without a human hand behind them, the falling swords were just falling objects, not a stroke of a weapon.
"Ahem.”
Ah. The researcher from Autozam. Right. Nova swung from the branch a little, aiming her fall away from the corpse of the monster. She landed, catching the man and absorbing the shock from his fall.
“Do you have any *idea* what you almost did?” Nova asked angrily.
The figure shrugged. “Everything worked for the best, didn’t it?”
Nova stared at the figure with her jaw dropped for a moment, then just hung her head and sighed. “Didn’t you people from Autozam understand when we told you to avoid certain areas? And isn’t the Pillar System supposed to be in the castle?” she asked suspiciously. Now that she had a chance to look at him, he seemed even stranger than normal for an Autozam researcher. They were usually struck motionless when confronted with things like monsters on Cephiro, and certainly didn’t favor grey.
The grey-clad figure waved her concerns aside and said, “That may be, but I’m here to offer you a proposition, Nova Shido. Please, call me Ralph. What would you say if I offered you a perfect world, one without monsters or invaders, a land of eternal peace?”
Nova simply giggled. “You people from Autozam still don’t get it, do you? The last Pillar’s wish was that the people of the land would create Cephiro themselves; Cephiro is the collected dreams and hopes of the people.”
Ralph hummed to himself for a moment as he read the contents of his device’s screen. “Ok then, how about a chance to meet Hikaru again?”
“H-Hikaru? You can let me see Hikaru again?” Nova exclaimed with a deep grin on her face. She would be able to tell Hikaru what Cephiro had become, how the people worked together to rebuild their shattered world, and to finally apologize to her…”Yes, of course, yes!”
"Well then, happy to oblige. One moment please.” Ralph fiddled with his device for a few moments, and a grey mist began to swirl around the trees, quickly thickening to the point where Nova couldn’t see Ralph. As the world faded to black, Nova thought she heard one faint word.
“Puu?” _________________ Embracing the Light and Shadow
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Magus Mr. Thou

Joined: 28 Nov 2002 Posts: 415 Location: Mount Zozo
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Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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Cyan Garamonde – 0/1
...And The World Was Changed Forever
“We have to wait for Shadow!”
Celes shouted just before the group jumped to the airship below. They had to wait for the Assassin to return – they owed it that to him, at least. Locke nodded, as did Cyan – they had but a few minutes until it all crumbled down, but they couldn’t leave their comrade behind.
Celes had a severe cut in her arm, the crimson red from her blood contrasting with her marble skin. Locke conjured a Cure2 spell and the wound slowly closed. Cyan didn’t say a word – he felt remorseful for the words he had directed towards her, labeling her as a traitor without even knowing who she was. She had saved them, refusing Kefka’s proposal and stabbing him. There was little time to thank her, though, as Kefka’s seized control of the statues and acquired an enormous magical power, making him a lot more dangerous than already was.
The earth below the three Returners trembled as the Floating Continent slowly crumbled below them. From the distance, the three could still hear Kefka’s insane laughter echoing throughout the landmass. A few moments later, Shadow arrived, his clothes all torn stained with blood.
“I’ll be blown to bits before I can even collect my pay…”
The four stared briefly at each other and nodded. One by one, they jumped onto the Blackjack below. Cyan looked back for a bit before and jumped. He had sworn to himself that Kefka would pay for his deeds one day and the Samurai had missed his chance to settle the score (if there was a way to make him pay for what he did to Doma, that is), but not now. He was worried about his own – and other people’s - survival.
Cyan landed clumsily on the Blackjack’s deck, wincing in pain as his body met the hard wooden floor from the airship.
“Can’t you defuse the statues?” asked Terra, who had been waiting alongside the rest inside the ship. Her question, however, fell into deaf ears.
Above the Returners, the Floating Continent finally crumbled to pieces, as did the world below. The statues gleamed, and several magical projectiles flew towards the surface. In the blink of an eye Continents were ripped apart – flames scorched the land and mountains collapsed as new ones were formed from the shock of tectonic plates. Plains were flooded by huge waves that swept the lower coastal areas and tornadoes and cyclones wreaked havoc in the inner areas. The delicate balance that kept the statues’ power in check had been broken, and their magical powers torn the land asunder.
“Hang on!” Shouted Setzer as he tried to gain control of the airship. Fierce wind blows threw the airship back and forth and despite his efforts, it seemed that it wouldn’t take long before it hit the ground. Either that, or the airship would simply give in to the stress and simply break in two.
Cyan tried to shout, but his voice couldn’t be heard amidst the chaos inside the ship. He rushed below the deck and found the other Returners desperately trying to hold on to something, but the ship had sustained a lot of damage, and its hull was full of huge wholes – mainly caused by the debris that were hitting the airship from every side.
Despite it all, Cyan wouldn’t give up until he was sure that Gau was safe. He would never admit it, but he was rather fond of the young boy. Having met him in the Veldt shortly after the death of his own son and wife, he treated him as his own son and Cyan wouldn’t let anything happen to him.
“Gau!” He shouted again, but there was no sight from the young boy. Chips and machine parts flew across the room as the airship rocked and Setzer tried to maneuver it, but to no avail. Seconds later, the hull parted in two – Cyan being on the back of the ship – and the knight was thrown back. Everything went black as the Blackjack – or rather, the half Cyan was trapped in – fell into the ocean. He thought about Owain and Elayne, from when he saw them for the last time inside the Phantom Train. He almost felt happy that he would finally be reunited with his family. Fate, however, had other plans for him.
And on that day, the world was changed forever… _________________
"I am Cyan, retainer to the King of Doma.
I am your worst nightmare..." |
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Procyon Raccoon Master Thief

Joined: 05 Jul 2003 Posts: 203 Location: Socorro, NM
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Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 12:18 am Post subject: 0-1 |
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Paris
3:18 A.M.
"SLY!!! Do you read me?" Bentley's nasal while crackled over the binocucom.
"Loud, and..." Sly paused for a second, "Loud and clear, Bentley."
The lithe raccoon looked up again, cautiously peering around him as he looked for any sign of trouble that might have followed him up to the rooftop. A crescent moon hung in the sky above, casting a pale glow that blended with the yellowish haze from the city lights shining all around him, weakly illuminating the surroundings. Not far away, the shadowy figure of the Eiffel Tower stood out against the night sky.
"Sly, I have some bad news. The police headquarters has vastly increased the amount of security present in the facility in the past few months, and an updated diagnosis of the compound indicates that you have absolutely no chance of entering undetected. Therefore, I'm afraid we're going to have to scrap the mission."
"We're not scrapping anything. If you think they know where Clockwerk's parts are being kept, I'm going in there."
"Oh... all right, Sly. But don't say I didn't warn you..."
"It'll be just fine. So how do I get in there?"
"Well, unfortunately, the old ventilation shaft is now blocked. The only way in is through the fan's opening at the top... and unfortunately, the fan is spinning at 22.7 RPM."
"Hmmm..." Sly adjusted his cap and spun his wooden cane around in his hand a few times – and then leapt forward, silently but quickly sprinting along the rooftop toward the raised section of the building where he would be making his entry. With a quick jump, he grabbed onto a bare water pipe running along the edge with his cane, and placing the weapon between his teeth the raccoon master thief shimmied upward to reach the upper roof level.
Indeed, in the center of this small segment of the roof was a circular opening – about two meters across – with a double fan blade rapidly spinning within it. A metal grille, locked by a small padlock, covered the opening, but a few sharp blows from the end of the cane and the lock was out of commission. Silently, Sly lifted the grill out of the way and stared down into the shaft. Sly gazed at the blades for a few seconds, his head bobbing in synchrony with the rotation. Here goes nothing...
And with a start, he jumped headfirst into the ventilation shaft. But at almost the moment he left the ground, the fan and the raccoon both suddenly seemed to slow to a crawl – and with a deliberate series of motions as he passed into the gap between the two blades, Sly rotated himself to keep a safe distance from the spinning rotor, pulling his limbs down and out of the way while bracing against the edge of the cylinder to propel himself downward and out of the range of the fan as quickly as possible. Now clear of the fan, time suddenly went back to normal, and the thief plummeted rapidly to the bottom of the shaft.
Moments later, Sly emerged from the maintenance doorway and into the main hallway of the police compound. Unfortunately, a pair of fences of yellow sensory lasers, one behind the other, blocked access forward through the hallway.
"Now, Sly..." Bentley's voice sounded over the binocucom system again, "As you've probably noticed, the building's capabilities have been vastly upgraded since your last visit here."
"So have mine, partner."
"Right. Your move-while-invisible technique should allow you to sneak through undetected."
Sly walked up to the fence at his right and scratched his head slightly, listening to the faint hum of the lasers. Silently, the raccoon's form faded almost to nothingness and he began to slowly creep forward through the beams – first one set, then another.
Taking a left turn at the junction, the thief was greeted by yet another laser fence - this time, however, one that swept back and forth on runners before disappearing for a few seconds.
"Sly," continued Bentley, "According to the information I downloaded off the police mainframe computer system, the floor of this hallway is touch-sensitive. Fortunately, however, the power consumption of the sweeping laser fence is so high that the sense pads turn off when the fence is in motion."
"I'm on it." And with a sudden leap, Sly flew into the air, grabbing the metallic runner track with the hook of the cane, clinging to the wooden handle while braced against the wall with his feet. Seconds later, the fence reappeared and the raccoon dropped to the floor and vanished – just as the beams swept past his position. Taking a quick step forward, he jumped and grabbed the wall a second time – repeating this process until he safely reached the end of the hallway.
"Good work... you've almost reached Inspector Carmelita's office," Bentley reported. "Unfortunately, the door is secured with double-reinforced barricades – you're going to have to find a way around it. And it appears that the windows are now sealed and linked to the security..."
"Not a problem, Bentley. I think I've got the solution." Sly pulled a small keychain out of his pocket, and searched through the keys before selecting one and inserting it into the keyhole of the massive red door. The key clicked, and the door opened. That little acquisition from their last encounter had been useful in more ways than one...
Sly Cooper slinked into the office and carefully shut the door behind him. It was a fairly small room, with a pair of desks along the inside wall, each covered in papers... mainly memos and inter-department notices, it seemed. A large bulletin board hung on the wall above the desks, covered with numerous grainy security-photo shots of himself, plus a few maps with his recent targets marked with X's – still not what he was looking for.
"Bentley, I don't suppose you have the combination to the new safe?"
"But of course, Sly. It took untold amounts of mathematical insight to decipher it, but the combination is 3-5-5."
Sly kneeled down in front of the safe and spun the dials to enter the combination – and with a metallic whirl, the safe door swung open. Inside, sitting by themselves, were a pair of documents: one appearing (from the photograph of himself that was clipped to it) to be an updated file on himself, the other clearly the blueprints to a large warehouse. Sly smiled and stuffed the papers into his backpack, retrieving a small blue raccoon-head figurine and putting it inside the safe in their place.
Sly heard a faint sound from behind him – and whirled around just as the red door burst open with a loud crack.
"Stop right there!" A familiar young vixen with long, deep blue hair and an equally blue brassiere and pants stood in the doorway, pointing an even more familiar looking massive bazooka-grade handheld shock pistol in Sly's direction.
"Well, if it isn't Carmelita Fox." Sly smiled. "I was wondering when you were going to show up. I trust you had a safe trip back from Russia?"
Sly glanced quickly at the pistol. A single hit from that weapon and he would be out cold...
"Just shut up, will you?! And don't make any sudden moves." She gestured with the shock pistol. "You've got some nerve coming back here after what you did back at Krak-Korov, Cooper."
"Remind me what that was again? The part about saving you from the gas chamber? Or... was it when we teamed up to beat that giant mechanical owl?"
"Don't play stupid with me, ringtail. Any chance of those incidents having any impact on your sentence when you're finally behind bars are gone after leaving me shackled like that – and after this latest intrusion you'll be lucky to ever see the light of day again."
Sly turned around and looked at the photo-plastered bulletin board. "So I see you've got quite the collection here. I'm flattered – I knew you had a soft spot for me all along. Not a bad picture, this one," he grabbed a picture of himself off the wall. "Here, let me give you a little token of my appreciation."
Sly picked up a pen off the desk and began signing his name at the bottom of the picture.
Carmelita bristled in anger. "Get your paws off police property!"
Finishing the signature, Sly pinned the picture back on the bulletin board. "You know, we have to stop meeting like this. What do you say we go for a little moonlight stroll around the river instead, maybe have a little late dinner by candlelight..."
"The only place you're going is off to prison where you belong. But first of all, why don't you return that police file."
"No can do. I hear you and your cronies have recovered Clockwerk and have got his parts sitting in a warehouse somewhere around here. Carmelita, those parts have to be destroyed – you heard what Clockwerk said back in the volcano: my family has destroyed the villain many times before, only to see him come back again and again. If somebody found them and tried to put them back together, everything we did back in Russia is for nothing."
"Sly, that warehouse is under the tightest possible security. Nobody gets in, or out, without our permission."
"Is this the same tightest possible security you use to keep intruders out of your office?"
Carmelita shook her head, her tail twitching in anger. "Look - enough talking." She pulled a pair of handcuffs out of her pocket. "Stand still while I put these handcuffs on. And remember, no sudden moves."
Sly craned his head slightly, looking at the handcuffs. "I don't think so – that metal kind of cramps my good style. Speaking of which, you ought to do something about that outfit of yours: those police boots really get in the way of your beautiful figure."
"That's it!", Carmelita shouted - and with that, the Inspector pulled the trigger. But with a sudden backflip, Sly launched himself clear through the window, shattering the glass with his cane in midair and dropping out of sight into the blackness of the early morning.
"Get back here, raccoon!" Carmelita shouted, her voice drowned out by the high pitch of the headquarters' security siren. "You can't run forever!" _________________
Description 1: Police Dossier
Description 2: The Thievius Raccoonus Online
Chapter 0: Return to Paris 0-1 0-2
Chapter 1: Seas of Peril 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 1-6 1-7
Chapter 2: A Grim Gothic Game 2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4 2-5 2-7 2-8 2-9
Current Location: Just outside the monastery. (Available for interaction) |
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Procyon Raccoon Master Thief

Joined: 05 Jul 2003 Posts: 203 Location: Socorro, NM
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Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 8:11 pm Post subject: 0-2 |
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I almost thought she'd had me that time – but lucky for me, Carmelita decided to take her time in getting down to business, and those extra seconds were all I needed to plan my escape. Back in the van, the team and I raced back to the hideout to locate the target for our next mission – to get Clockwerk's parts back ourselves, before they ended up in the wrong hands.
Clockwerk... the giant mechanical owl was an enigma for the ages. Nobody knew when he first appeared, but since the very first entry in the Thievius Raccoonus, his dark silhouette was a constant appearance, lurking in the background. My ancestors thought they had finished him off several times... only for him to reappear again generations later, his hatred stronger than ever. After what he did to my dad, I couldn't afford to take any risks this time: Clockwerk had to be destroyed for good.
"Well, Sly," Bentley said, "I've finished analyzing the blueprints, and I believe I've pinpointed the warehouse's location. It's about six miles north of the city center, not far from the river."
"So that's where you think they've got what's left of Clockwerk holed up?" Sly Cooper swiveled around from his position his high chair from the middle of the hideout to face his partner.
Bentley nodded, his beady eyes blinking behind his thick glasses as he stared into the computer terminal. "Positive."
"But why? Do the police have any idea of the history behind that thing?"
Bentley looked up. "That... I'm not so sure. All I know is, we've got to find a way to get in there and find out what's going on... because I don't think we can trust the police on this one."
"When have we ever trusted..." Sly stood up, but stopped himself to avoid tripping over the rotund purple hippopotamus that was lying sprawled out in the middle of the floor, reading a comic book and snacking on a bag of chips.
The raccoon rolled his eyes.
"Sorry, Sly... I'll get out of your way."
"Thanks, Murray."
Murray (slowly) rose to his feet and trotted over to the corner of the small trailer structure they used as the hideout before splaying himself on the floor again and going back to his comics.
"So anyway, what's the plan?"
"That's going to take a little more analysis. The computer's busy assembling the 3D representation of the structure, which is going to take a few minutes at least. In the meantime..." Bentley made a few taps on his keyboard, " I've finished wiring the new police dossier you found into your binocucom. Just remember, all you have to do is scroll down below the signature, and click on the link to where you want to go."
"Got it."
"Good evening, sirs," came the sound of a mysterious accent from the center of the room, just behind them.
"Whoa whoa whoa -" a highly surprised Sly Cooper reached forward and grabbed his cane from its resting place against the wall as he turned to face the intruder. "Who are you and how did you get in here?!"
"Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself first," said the grey figure that stood in front of him. For grey he was indeed: his clothes, hat, shoes, even his skintone were the color of a London fog. It was much less clear exactly what he was... Sly had never seen any creature like him before. "My name is Ralph, and I'm with the Interplanar Talent Agency."
"Agency, huh." Sly held his weapon at the ready, watching the intruder carefully. "Well, I'm Sly Cooper and these are my partners, Bentley and Murray. Now, how did you find us?"
"It was quite easy, actually. The Interplanar Agency has a machine with teleportation links to just about any universe that exists within our records. All I must do is punch in the coordinates and I can appear pretty much wherever I want."
Sly just looked at him incredulously. Bentley looked around momentarily, and went back to (quietly) typing at his keyboard. Paying no heed to the silence, Ralph continued on...
"Now, I am here to extend to you a little offer. A client of ours is interested in bringing together some of the multiverse's most competent and interesting combatants for a little tournament – consisting of a week or so of competition against heroes and villains from other universes. I figured you might be interested in matching wits with these fellows... as quite a few of them carry some rather interesting artifacts that you'll never find in your own world."
"Hold on here..." Sly said, half-laughing. "So, you expect me to believe that you're from a different universe... and I've been invited to a tournament with a bunch of people from even more... different universes."
"Yes indeed."
The raccoon blinked. "...Huh."
"Sly... he's telling the truth. My scanners indicate that he appeared out of some sort of inter-dimensional wormhole!!"
Sly looked at the stranger intently, his arms folded across his chest. Not an obvious decision... but protracted thinking about something like this wasn't exactly the Cooper way.
"I'll do it."
"Excellent. In that case –"
"Hold on – ", Bentley interrupted, "I don't like this, Sly. The most dangerous criminals in the whole multiverse? This mission is far too dangerous to be worth the risk. In any event, we've got to do something about Clockwerk's remains before it's too late!"
"Oh, don't worry about that," Ralph shrugged. "This tournament will take place in another time line... hardly a few minutes will pass here before you return, even though it may seem to take a week or more for you. In fact, who knows, maybe you'll find something that will actually aid you in this objective of yours."
"Don't worry, Bentley," Sly insisted. "Nothing I haven't handled before. And with all the master thief moves down, it should be a piece of cake."
"Allll....right, Sly, if you say so. But I'm telling you, you'd better be on your guard at all times, as we have no idea what you'll find out there. But, ah, good luck."
In the corner of the room, Murray (who had apparently paid little regard to the whole event until this point) looked up and waved. "You goin' on another mission, Sly?"
"That's right," the raccoon responded.
"Awesome. You just let me know if you need any support."
"Will do, partner. But I think we're good at the moment." Sly turned to the mysterious agent. "So, when do we get started?"
"Right... now." Ralph pushed a button on his handheld computer, and the two of them vanished into a cloud of mist. _________________
Description 1: Police Dossier
Description 2: The Thievius Raccoonus Online
Chapter 0: Return to Paris 0-1 0-2
Chapter 1: Seas of Peril 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 1-6 1-7
Chapter 2: A Grim Gothic Game 2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4 2-5 2-7 2-8 2-9
Current Location: Just outside the monastery. (Available for interaction) |
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Peptuck The Warthog...of DOOM!

Joined: 05 Nov 2003 Posts: 546 Location: On Halo and loving it
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Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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0700 hours, September 20, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ UNSC HighCom Facility Bravo-6, Sydney, Austrailia, Earth
The lift dropped quickly, though the elevator's occupant barely felt the descent as he passed three kilometers of stone, reinforced Titanium-A, concrete, and EMP shielding. Above him had been located the surface structure of the United Nations Space Command's High Command Facility, reffered to in most circles as simply "the Hive" Here was located the entirety of the UNSC's military command, the epicenter of the UNSC military's logistics and control.
The elevator reached its destination far below the surface, and doors slid open silently. Out of the lift strode a massive form, two meters tall, clad in iridescent green armor on top of black plates of hardened alloy. Beneath this shell there was a crystal matrix that enhanced the wearer's strength, and beneath that were enough advanced components and technology to be worth as much as a small starship.
The man was a Spartan, one of the few active Spartan-II's still in existance. The Covenant war had claimed many of the rest. This man, however, was no ordinary Spartan-II. He was the commander of that small, elite unit of super-soldiers, Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-117.
He walked down the hallway with fluid grace, his gait somewhere between that of a robot and a panther's stride, his movements too solid and fliud to be human. At the end of this hallway was a huge double door, in front of which stood a pair of Marine military police, heavily armed and at full attention. they stared straight ahead, but the Master Chief knew that if he even twitched the wrong way, those men would shoot first and leave the questions to the spooks in Intelligence.
The doors swung inward, and the Chief entered. As soon as he passed the threshold, the doors closed and locked.
The room featured a crescent-shaped table, around which were seated the highest commanders of the UNSC military, among them Major General Nicholas Strauss, Fleet Admiral Sir Terrance Hood, and Colonel James Ackerson, among many others.
The Chief caught Ackerson's contemptious glare. Ackerson had always hated the Spartans, because they were direct competition with the Colonel's own black ops projects. The Chief had heard that Ackerson had been pleased when he heard that Reach had been glassed and all of the Spartans had died. The Colonel was obviously not so pleased to see four Spartans still alive.
"You'd better keep an eye on him," Cortana whispered into the Chief's speakers. He imperceptibly nodded. Cortana knew far more about Ackerson than even the Chief did.
The Chief stood at attention in front of the comand officers, and saluted sharply. General Strauss looked up at the Chief, his eyes haunted. The news he had brought back was not good. The Covenant knew Earth's location, and even though the armada they had deployed to assault Earth was destroyed, things still looked grim. Who knew how many ships the aliens had?
"At ease, Master Chief," the General ordered. The Master Chief relaxed slightly, but stayed wary. it was never a good thing to be summoned among the top brass of the UNSC. Even more so with a snake like Ackerson around.
"I want to tell you, first of all, that we are immensely pleased to see that you and some of your fellow Spartans survived Reach," the General continued. "Furthermore, the intelligence that you and Cortana have brough back concerning the Covenant is staggering. Our scientists are working around the clock on the information concerning the Covenant's communications, Slipstream drives, and plasma technology.
"That said, Master Chief, we are also deeply disturbed by some of the data you've returned. if what you're saying in the report is correct, then the Covenant know Earth's location." That sent a ripple of unrest through the brass. Earth's location and its secrecy was one of the most critical pieces of data that they had to protect. If the Covenant knew humankind's homeworld, then the war was almost certianly over.
"Furthermore, you have also returned with an immense amount of data concerning this artifact that was encounted near the gas giant Threshold," the General added. "We are understandably interested in what you have discovered, and are working around the clock to analyze the data on this 'Halo' and the alien creatures identified as the Flood. to tell the truth, Master Chief, what you have brought us is incredible, but after analyzing your information, we have noted a signifigant gap in your report. Your mission clock states that there was a roughly one-week or so period that passed during your return that is unnaccounted for. This time actually passed during your return, a period which should have only taken thirty-five hours. Would you care to explain?"
"Yes, sir," the Master Chief replied, and took a breath. "As you well know, we have encountered an unidentified species that constructed the ringworld Halo, which the Covenant have named the 'Forerunners'. I believe that the period which I did not cover in my report has something to do with the Forerunners and their technology."
The Chief paused, then continued. "As you know, we have confirmed the existance of alternate dimensions, most noteably Slipspace. the period I did not account for was spent in an alternate existence."
"And how did this happen?" Admiral Hood asked, curious.
"To tell the truth, I'm unsure," the Chief responded honestly. "The incident occured when we detected a stowaway on the Gettysburg while we were returning. Myself and my fellow Spartans were engaged in nuetralizing a group of Covenant sabatouers that had survived our battle on the Ascendant Justice when we encountered an unusual individual named 'Ralph' who offered me the oppurtunity to defeat the Covenant and protect Earth if I cooperated with him. Given the desperate situation, I reluctantly accepted his offer."
"Then what happened?" the General asked, curious as to this development.
The Chief then explained all that he had experienced in that week....
1785 hours, September 14, 2552 (Military Calendar)\Aboard UNSC vessel Gettysburg, en route to Earth
The reinforced Titanium-A door slid open, and four two-meter-tall titans strode into the Gettysburg's Engineering section. They scanned the room with their rifles, the floodlights sweeping across the chamber.
"Clear," the Master Chief said as soon as they had determined the room was empty. "Cortana, where did you say the breach was?"
"There's a hallway braching off to the left ten meters down," the AI's voice responded in his speaker. "The damaged conduit is in that corridor." the Chief flashed an aknowledgement light and made a sligth gesture. He and his fellow Spartans edged foward. Linda, Will, and Fred moved with John, their rifles continuing to scan the interior. John paused by the door Cortana had indicated, and stuck his fiber optic cable through. It was clear.
They had been only twelve hours from Earth on the damaged Gettysburg when the UNSC ship had dropped out of Slipspace inexplicably. Cortana, hooked up to the ship's central computer, had quickly discerned the problem. A conduit in Engineering had been blown out suddenly, in a manner that spoke more of sabatoge than anything else. John hadn't been happy to hear that, as it meant that some of the Covenant sabatouers that had been on board the Ascendant Justice were still alive and causing trouble.
The Spartans had gone down to clear the area. Once that was done, some of the captured Covenant Engineers could come fix the problem. Only there were no Covenant in Engineering, unless it was more Elites with optic camoflague.
The Chief slid into the corridor, with Fred, Linda, and will behind him. A quick sweep up and down showed the area clear, but John did not relax.
"Keep an eye open for Covenant," he ordered over the COM. Three aknowledgement lights blinked in response in John's heads up display.
Also in response to John's order came a shimmering of light at both ends of the corridor, and out of thin air seven Covenat Elites materialized, plasma rifles in hand.
"Contact!" John shouted, and the Spartans responded before the Covenant could even roar battlecries and attack. All four Spartans shouldered their MA5Bs and opened fire, their bullets striking and bouncing off the Elites' shields. The tall, humanoid aliens rushed forward, firing their plasma rifles. The air was filled with bullets and blue energy as the Spartans and Elites traded fire. One Elite stumbled and fell, its blood splattering everywhere as Fred dropped it. Another collapsed under John's gunfire, while a third's shields failed under the last of Will's bullets. As the Spartan moved to reload, Linda picked up that Elite for him, dropping it with a short, controlled burst to the head.
Plasma struck the Spartans as the surviving four Elites continued their attack. The blue bolts flared against the Spartans' shields, but the humans held their ground, firing and reloading. Another Elite dropped as a fifth closed with Fred and punched out with its rifle. The alien weapon dove for the Spartan's head, but Fred ducked away from the hit and smacked the Elite with the butt of his rifle. The Elite's shield failed under the hit, and Fred sprang forward, smashing once across its skull with his rifle, then twice, finishing the Elite off.
Linda and Will tore one of the remaining two Elites apart with gunfire as the last closed with John. Unlike the Elite that attacked Fred, this one whipped out a glowing blade of pure energy, a plasma sword. The Elite struck out with the deadly weapon, the blade flicking across. John's shield, already low from the exchange of bullets and plasma, collapsed under the slash. John backed away, but still felt a jolt of heat as the MJOLNIR's internal temperature spiked. The Elite's blade cut into the armor, damaging components. John caught a red light in his display, indicating his shield system was damaged. Damn.
The Elite rushed forward again, trying to cut John down, but the Spartan fell back again, firing as he did. His shots were joined by his fellow Spartans as they wheeled on the hreat. The Elite's shields flared, then vanished. the Elite was blasted to pieces by the combined fire of all four Spartans.
"You always have to treat your equipment this way?" Cortana asked, her holographic image putting her hands on her hips. She watched the Master Chief as he inspected the damaged secton of his suit about ten minutes after the battle. The AI was actually inside John's suit at the moment, but was transmitting her image to the Gettysburg's holographic suite. Black char marks scored the section where part of his shield generator was located, effectively disabling it for now. He scanned the room for the parts he would need to reactivate the generator, and picked up the necassary pieces.
"Don't blame me, blame the Covenant," the Chief replied as he removed the damaged piece of equipment. He was going to need to take off the whole suit before he could affect repairs to the shield, unfortunately-
The sudden apperance of a blob on the Chief's motion detector was the only warning John got. he had already begun to spin around, M6D leaving its holster, when he made out the figure behind him. A short man (tiny, compared to the Chief in his armor) with gray hair, gray suit, gray bowler's hat, gray shoes, gray skin....
The bizarreness of the man's appearance did nothing to prevent the Master Chief from jabbing his pistol in the man's forehead and cocking back the hammer. The gray man's eyes tracked up, crossing to see the barrel of John's weapon.
"You are aware that threatening an Interplanar talent Scout can have very severe repurcussions upon you or you home universe under the Multiversal Transition and Recruitment Act?" the gray man said calmly, with an odd accent that even Cortana had a hard time placing.
"Who the hell are you and how did you get on this ship?" John demanded, not moving his pistol.
"My name is Ralph, and you, I suspect, are the Master Chief?" the man asked. "Master Chief John-117?"
"How do you know my name?" John asked, relaxing slightly, but not completely. On a private COM line, he spoke to Cortana. "Who is this guy?"
"Preliminary scans show he's more or less human, though his skin tone is a bit odd...." Cortana's voice was laced with curiousity. "As for how he got on board, he just popped out of nowhere behind you with a puff of gray smoke."
"Optic camoflague?" the Chief asked, to which Cortana processed the AI equivilant of a shrug.
"I don't think so. He simply materialized behind you. I've never seen anything like this before. However, scans are showing he isn't armed, at least with nothing I know of." John nodded and relaxed, pulling his pistol back, but not holstering the weapon.
"Okay, 'Ralph,' who are you and what are you doing here?" John asked the grayscale man.
"I'm here to make you an offer, John," Ralph said. The Chief bristled slightly. Very few people called him by his proper name, mostly just Dr. Hasley. He didn't like how a complete stranger knew such personal information about him. The gray man glanced down at a strange black plastic device, and then looked back up.
"If you come with me, there is the possibility that I could give you the ability to stop the Covenant from destroying humankind."
Impossible, the Chief thought immediately. How could this one man stop the Covenant? But yet, the offer the man was making was of such an incredible magnitude....would it be wise to ignore it?
"How?" the Chief asked.
"That depends, John," Ralph replied. "Will you come with me? Or not?"
"Cortana?" the Chief asked over the private COM.
"I don't know what to say," Cortana replied. "He did manage to enter the Gettysburg entirely undetected. That device he has is definately far more advanced than anything the UNSC or the Covenant has. If he has access to technology or power that can defeat the Covenant, and I suspect he does...." The Chief sent her an aknowledgement.
"Okay," the Chief said to Ralph after a moment of consideration. "What do I have to do?"
"Nothing," Ralph repleid in his odd accent as he fiddled with his black plastic device. "Nothing at all."
An instant later, a gray mist encircled John, and before either he or Corana could respond, blackness engulfed him. _________________
The Cheeese pwns j00. |
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LordLocke Bloody Savior

Joined: 14 Jul 2003 Posts: 244 Location: Under my own shadow...
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Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 2:29 pm Post subject: |
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Deep within the heart of the Majigen relm, at it's very heart, laid something both more wonderous and more terrible then anyone could expect.
The chaimber was unlike that of any other- it walls were not of stone, or wood, or metal, but of pink flesh- the walls pulsed with the heartbeat of it's main occupant and were slick with a dark red fluid. Several cords seemed to leave the walls towards the object in the center, supposted by thick membranes.
Then.. the object yawned. Turning over, it brought one stubby hand to it's mouth and gently began to suck as it continued to slumber. The fetus, for that's what it was, continued in it's blissful sleep, unaware of what it was or what it's destiny was.
For it was the Fetus of a Demon God. And once it was born, it would destroy all of creation, and remake reality without sin.
Of course, while important to this story, the child is not what we are here for at this time. I draw your attention once again to the slick, red fliud sliding down the walls of the womb. As it slid to the ground, it slowly gathered and clumped as it reached the ground... and continued to move. It slid to one side of the fetus, gathering in a currently-tiny pool as the blood seemed to draw itself in. Almost as if it was intelligent.
And it was. Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce the High Lord of Dohma.
Of course, he wasn't always splattered across this chaimber. To undertand how we got to here, one must know what has come before...
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"Emperor Ozma! Emperor Ozma!!"
Running through the halls of Dohma Manor, a small frog-like demon scrambled for the throne chaimber, the news on the tip of it's tongue being of the utmost importance to his lord and master.
Reaching the double doors, the demon didn't await a summon or bother with an announcement- the message was far too urgent, and time was of the essance. Powering through, the toad approached the throne... "Emperor Oz... ma..." The green palor of the messanger's skin seemed to fade away, leaving a sickly yellow color as he saw who was sitting upon the throne.
For it was not Emperor Ozma. In fact, it was the very person the messanger had come to warn him about. Emperor Ozma's limp form laid next to the throne- it's massive, powerful form having grown large and obese in the years of rule. Now, however, it was covered in a mass of cuts, bruises, and acidic burns, held by the head in one hand, sitting on the throne he had occupied one hundred years prior...
"My retainer Ozma is... indisposed for the moment. Perhaps I could be of assistance, instead?" Said the blue-skinned noble with a manic grin, reveling in the panic and fear on the toad-demon's face.
it was Jedah, the long-dead lord of Dohma. Risen from him deathbed, returned to power after having it sealed away, supposedly forever. The messanger quiclly dropped to his knees. "Forgive me, Master Jedah, I had no idea you had already re-assumed your throne. I was just coming to inform Ozma of your return.
"Indeed. He was most... surprised when he saw me. I believe he thought me gone for good."
The story of Ozma's betrayal of his friend and master Jedah was well-known throughout the Makai relm- despite variations of how it happened, from Ozma tricking Jedah into asorbing too many souls from the Makai gate to the far less-likely scenario of Ozma outrightly slaying the Dohma noble on the field of battle, one thing was clear- Jedah died by an act of betrayal by the neo-ruler, who then stole as much of the noble's power for himself and assumed the role of Emperor of all the Makai. Nobody oposed him- even with the fraction of Jedah's power that he'd stolen, Ozma had become stronger then any other demon still around except Belial, who hadn't cared enough to oppose him.
Everyone had assumed that, eventually, Emperor Ozma would reach a bad end of his own- he was too greedy and ambitious not to, but none had expected the true ruler of DOhma to ruse from his grave and extract retribution himself. Slowly, the still form of Ozma began to stur, apparently having been only unconcious.
"Ah, Ozma, my dear friend, you're still with us among the living." Jedah seemed both surprised and relieved to see this. "Good, good- this always works better then they're alive."
"Wha--Jedah!' Ozma quickly rose to his knees, his hands grasping the throne. "Lord Jedah, I had no idea that I had open the Makai gate that far!" Ah-ha, so that was the real story, thought hte messanger. "When I saw you explose... I took over as a friend, as you would have wanted. I mean, I thought you died!" The ex-Emperor pleaded. It was unsire if he was trying to convince Jedah or himself of his innocance.
"But I did die, old friend." Jedah said, his voice carrying an oddly-sweet tone to it.
"But... how..." Ozma sputtered.
"I got better." Jedah rose to his feel, bring Ozma with him. Despite being a much-larger demon, both in height and girth, the Dohma noble easially lifted his betrayer clear off the ground. "I see you still have that fragment of my power. Good. It'll help for what follow."
"Pleast, Master Jedah, I ask of you to spa-" Ozma was cut off as Jedah slapped him with his free hand. The blow cracked the skull of the ex-Emepror, and a thick, black ichor began to flow from the wound.
"You've grown cowardly and meek as they years have gone by, Ozma. What happened to the strong, powerful Ozma which once stood by my side. The Ozma who faught along side me. The Ozma who betrayed to further his own ends." Jedan frowned. "Dissapointing. Then again, I've had a hundred years to think... and this has sealed my decision."
"Your... decision?" Ozma was puzzled. As was the messanger, who remaind quiet and made himself as small as possible, to be avoided by the Makai noble's attention.
"I have decided the greed, the disgusting draw of power that caused me to be betrayed by one who I once called friend... the base cowardice and gluttony that consumed you once you had all the power that you could gather... you are not alone in such sin." Jedah shook his head. "I wish yo were. Then I could just kill you and be done with it."
Ozma gulped.
"No, it's not your fault that you were consumed by such deisres, for it seems such desires are that of all things... from base beast to lowly human to that of even the most regal demon." Jedah stared at Ozma, as if using the large demon as an example.
"It's not just us of the Makai- when I felt the energy of the human world, I felt all it's suffering and anger and wrath as well. Even as it ripped me apart, I cried in sorrow of what a state of affairs simply living has become. Just existing, which should be a glorious experiance, is more of a burden then a blessing- you wouldn't believe the suffering one must go through by simply living." A tear rolled down Jedah's cheek as he went on, but a smile returned to his face, and continued to grow.
"But that can change, as can all things. The cost may be high, but the final result... is worth any ocst." Jedah's smile broadened into a grin, which continued onward towards manic porportions.
The former emperor's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"
"I shall purge this world of it's sin, destroy all of it's darkness, and have it reborn in glorious perfection. I shall destroy everything, just to have it recreated clean, pure! A grand purging, with nothing that shall be left untouched!"
"Jedah, can you hear yourself? Have you gone insane?' Ozma renewed his struggles- it's obvious his former friend was not the same man he had died as.
"Oh yes! I've gone so gloriosuly, splendedly mad!" Jedah turned his wild eyes on Ozma. "And there's a place for you, old friend!"
"For... me?" For am moment, Ozma relaxed. Jedah was going to let him- then he took a look at Jedah's face, which had relaxed into one of regret and sorrow. Fear reentered Ozma's face as he refused to accept the fact Jedah was condemnign him to. His struggles resumed and intensified, but jedah's grasp remained form.
Jedah's voice fell to a whipser, barely heard even by the demon he was speaking it too, as she shifted his grip to a two-handed one on either end of Ozma's head. "Ozma, I am sorry, but please lend me your powers. Your soul will become the foundation of the Majigen, and will help save the future of the Makai."
And then Jedah began to pull. Turning away, the Messanger could only watch the silloette of the two in fear as Jedah slowly pulled the former emperor in two from the head-down. As he finished, Jedah discarded the two halves of the once-great demon lord and grabbed the shining soul left in the air.
"Ozma, I shall clense you, and all others, of your wrechedness. For both the human world, and the Makai, I shall stain my hands, so that others won't be compelled to in the future."
---
Of course, that still does not explain why the High Lord of Dohma was currently decorating the sides of the Demon God's womb... but that is another story, for another time, a little later... _________________
Savior. Lunatic. Blueberry. |
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Pin! To Higher Horizons! The Sociopolitical Fanficcer

Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 238 Location: Central Texas
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Posted: Sat May 29, 2004 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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The small bar seats about fifty-to-sixty patrons. Sometimes it's difficult to manage the place because, on some nights, around a hundred visitors come for the comedy nights. Tonight was such a night, and people were lined up alongside the walls, paying for non-existant chairs, waiting to see a much-talked about comic. Right now, the stage is empty.
These days, in the shadow of its revolution, Izander was becoming stressful. Economic stability has failed to improve beyond the declining years of the monarchy, while civil rights are a paltry substitute for a 9-to-5 paycheck. The large kingdom which was once united under the will of the crown has become a scattered collection of rustic villages, in a time between ancient and modern. You can buy a can opener from a smithe and a computer from a merchant. The individual capitalist has not become a machina, but in the whole of Izander was not enough money to support half of a corporation.
The bar was successful because people were depressed and strained. People came in to suffocate their problems with cheap barely moonshine. The only time the Izanders could face their problems and their bloodied past...was when the comics owned the night. To many of the hardened souls indulging in this escapist little tavern, the comics were simply the most effective politicians.
Tonight, they come to listen to a new comic. They said that he spits hot fire; that he is the Satan of comedy. The man who strangles the innards of his audience with his words.
"Lemmie hear a round of applause for Mad Cap. Good shit this week, as always..."
The host allows for the previous comic to exit. He is excited when he learns who he is about to present. Mad Cap got the crowd worked up, but he knows that they're not prepared for the next one.
"Alright folks, we got a fresh up-and-comer tonight to Stokley's Bar & Grill, but this guy's been setting all of the other joints on fire for the past couple of weeks. Give a warm welcome to...the Seijun!"
The Seijun. The Satan of comedy. He strolls into the stage as if it were a walk in the park, and hugs the announcer, patting his back. The announcer hands him the mic, and the Seijun grabs it, about to speak.
"S'up nuccas."
He waits for the crowd's applause to fade out.
"First thing I gotta say tonight; Izander women are a gift from God."
Numerous hollers of agreement rise into the tavern's din.
"The reason being, you're so damn easy to please. When God created Izander women, he put their G-spots on our dicks or some shit. You come on an afterthought! Seriously though, you're better than Ivalice women. Any of you guys ever been to Ivalice? The bitches don't have pussy, they have mountain lion! You can't get laid in Ivalice because the women are demanding as fuck when it comes to sex. They think slitting your throat is spitting game!
"I know some of you don't get what I'm saying, so listen up. The Lice, they have this genetic defect that makes them hate life. If you ever knew one, you'd know what I'm talking about. Not two hours ago a Lice sold me a pack of Skittles and mean mugged me like I fucked his wife...which I told you is already impossible. But for a Lice, it's not convincing when they mean mug because they look funny doing it; the fuckers don't got noses.
"You ever see that shit? You ever go to Ivalice, you'll mistake everyone on the street for a penis with eyeballs! I think the Lice are just genetically fucked up like that. They hate life. I saw a bunch of music videos from Ivalice on TV last night...they're all stories about a guy who falls in love with a girl, but ends up committing suicide after she blinds herself after getting raped by the guy's best friend. I couldn't make up shit like that. Does this happen on a regular basis in Ivalice?
"I looked into their history. Their great King Hyral was fake who raped the princess for free and stole the country. ...How'd he rape a Lice girl again? Oh yeah, I forgot, he's Lice too so he's a giant penis. The only way to get a girl in Ivalice to come is if she squats on a Lice guy's head as if it were a football."
The Seijun went on and on, garnering many laughs on different subjects, but oddly enough, liked to stick around politics. Politics in any country is the greatest source of comedy.
"So, we have this revolution a few years ago...news to me. I learned it from the last comic before me. It's still the same shit before and after the king got peaced out; everyone's living day by day and we make money off other people's misery. Why haven't we legalized drugs yet? That's where all the crime COMES from. Oh, I forgot; we don't got the best shit. The greens come from Ivalice. Can't let the Lice make some money, can we? When I was there, a girl, barely an adult, was offering me a BJ just so she could buy her kid some fuckin' bread.
"...well, of course I paid for it. Their mouths FEEL like mountain lions too! When I felt this sharp pain on my cock, and she started complaining that her mouth tasted like 'pennies,' I knew my manhood was bleeding because she dug her fangs onto me like Marquis Elmdor!"
***
The Seijun helped clear the tables that night, and was supposed to lock the bar at 3: in the morning. Before he could, a young man suddenly propped himself onto a stool, clad in a red retro jumpsuit and an L.L. Cool J. hat.
"That was a great act, 'Seijun.'"
"...uh, thanks. I'm about to close up the bar though..."
"What, is 'Rayjack' already taken as a stage name?"
The Seijun paused, while the half-full glass in his hand began to shake.
"...you...I thought you died in the revolution. Toby!"
The young man extended his hand to Rayjack, as if he were reaching into the past.
"I thought you killed yourself."
"That's fucked up shit to say to me man! How's it been? You still a wandering thief?"
"Wandering thief? I was a treasure hunter for shit's sake! But I'm a smuggler now. I get people the fuck out of Midgar and into Izander, but maybe that's not a fair trade."
"Aw man...what happened to Barasa? Kaliva?"
"Barasa became a celebrity somewhere...a movie star I think. He stomps on buildings in all his films though. Kaliva is a professor in some university overseas...I dunno."
"Well, what're you doing here? I mean...I'm under an assumed name and all."
"And you dyed your hair greenish."
"And I shaved off the beard I was getting used to."
"You also changed your sex. I can see the cameltoe."
"Fuck you."
"But anyway, I've gotta warn you... there are some old mercenaries running around these days. Drunk old mercenaries who are spitting out names they shouldn't be spitting. People I heard of from years ago are getting shot on the street weekly. I know you collaborated with the revolutionaries last year, but you did save lives loyal to the king."
"...yeah..."
"You saved guys who refuse to acknowledge the new government to this day. Guys who are picking off the military police left and right. I was with you and them back then too, but I didn't agree with everything they did...I dissented the same way you did. I came to find you so we can get the hell out of here and on a ship to Traverse Town or Hahn Nova..."
Rayjack raised his hand quick, shutting Toby up fast.
"No. Gotta find her first."
"Oh fuck me Rayjack, not this again..."
"I know they didn't get Claire."
"You know she's a figurehead for the resistance! She probably knows the truth of your involvement with the coup! They'll either kill you trying to find her, or she'll kill you for selling out her family!"
"...you don't have to remind me about the revolution. Not when it's around us every single day!"
"The best thing for everyone now is to get the hell out of here!"
"Princess Claire? Is she the one you're talking about?" A completely foreign voice interrupts the conversation. Toby and Rayjack turn to see a short, gray man politely wave his hand to them. "Oh, you won't find her here anymore."
"What?" Rayjack rushed up to the man and lifted him by his shoulders, shaking him down violently. "Where is she?!"
"Off dimensional jumping, I remember. She's one of the lucky few that do that on their own."
"Dimensional jumping?" Toby got off of his stool and darted around the man. "The hell is that?"
"She crosses into whole new worlds, brave planes of existence, unexplored by anyone from your world! But she doesn't have to be the only one! I came to meet the unsung hero of the revolution!" Rayjack slowly let the man down, staring deeply into his eyes.
"You're not lying..."
"I came for you, Sir Rayjack. Your Shade of Cyan has so much potenti-" Rayjack grabbed the man again, this time by his arm.
"How did you know about that?!"
"=)"
"You're a jolly midget aren't you?!"
"...uh...not really. I have a few issues that I'm quite tart about, but I guess I have a lot to be thankful for...I'm not a midget though."
"You said...you said that we could go wandering around, for her?"
"Hey, hey, HEY." Toby interrupts. "I'm not gonna go Don Quixote for your girlfriend."
"That's fine." The man takes a long look from Toby to Rayjack. "I only really need him."
"That's good! ... I don't even know how you can even begin to believe him! Even if it is true, this is suicide!"
"...the opportunity is too good to pass up. Let's roll little man. What's your name?"
"Oh, I'm Ralph!"
"...heh heh, Ralphie. Like in the movie?" _________________
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BlackMage She's back...!

Joined: 08 Jul 2002 Posts: 765 Location: Around the other hemisphere.
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Posted: Sat May 29, 2004 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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The Worlds are veiled in darkness,
The winds stop, and the seas are wild,
And slowly, the worlds begin to rot.
The people wait – their only hope, a prophecy:
“When the darkness comes, a warrior will come…”
And when the time did come,
They never knew that this “warrior”…
Was the biggest fuck-up they could make.
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Now Playing: Sasurai no Cowboy (Cowboy Bebop Theme) (Sung by Ed)
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The Story Of Edward (Hau Pepelu Tivrusky the Fourth)
A Comedy in Many Parts
Session One: Edward and the Overly-Angsty Bishonen.
There isn’t anything special to say at the place at hand. Here, there is nothing. It is a nameless location, and a place where time doesn’t exist. Hell, you stay here for forever and you won’t know it was forever because there is no forever because forever is a construct of time! See? Isn’t it amazing how a place like this works?
But still, this place doesn’t have anything special going for it.
Naturally, that’s going to change. I mean, hey, I don’t spend my good hours writing about nothing! So, conveniently right now, a dimensional wormhole will appear in the “sky”.
…
...
Any second now…
…
Okay? No wormhole? Fine, then. We’ll talk more about this place to occupy our time. Now, over to your left. No, sorry, MY left – your right, you can see a tree. I believe it’s an oak tree, by its structure and y’know… greenness. Okay, whatever, it’s a tree, okay?! Where the hell is that wormhole…?
-BLOOK-
“AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”
…There she is.
This over here, the screaming girl falling out of the sky I mean, is Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky the Fourth, just leaving her adventures of the… SXI tournament. That was about a year ago, and since then she’s fallen into limbo.
“---AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
What? What do you mean I should do something about Ed falling to her death? I’m just a voice. Nothing special I can do…
-BLOOK-
“…WOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFF!!”
Ah, and here we have Ein the dog. He’s so cute! And intelligent! Quick, get him while he’s hot, ladies! But watch out – he is a bit of a mongrel. Har har har! Ein was unhappily dragged along with Edward on her SXI adventures, but somehow disappeared into limbo a bit quicker then our heroine here. Poor dog… maybe if he’s lucky it won’t happen as badly this time.
…Aw, look at that! They’re hugging each other as they fall to their death! It’s so cute! Well, I’m off! Time for lunch! Buh-bye~!
Meanwhile…
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Now Playing: Tama ni bou (Excel Saga)
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“Oh, Ein-dog! WE’RE GONNA DIE! AAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” Edward’s screams were only blocked out by Ein’s dog-screams as they descended to the ground below them. It wasn’t to long ago they were… doing… something… they couldn’t really remember what it was, but hey, it was WAY better then falling about 20-kazillion miles to the ground.
“Woooooooooooooooof~” squealed Ein.
“Yes! Yes! It is a perfect plan! Ed shall use you as a parachute and, if that doesn’t work, a fail-safe to my demise! You can hit the ground first and it’ll take some of the impact from E—AHHHHHHH!” Edward was forced to scream as Ein bit her. She took it as a hint that he didn’t like the plan.
She tried out her other plans. She tried flapping her arms to fly off into the sky, she tried to use her magical telekinetic powers to make her float, she tried to ride of the clouds nearby but nothing work. Oh, poor Edward, she was going to die a virgin without living life to the fullest!
She blamed Ein for this.
Meanwhile, Ein was calculating his own rescue plan, which included much physics and mathematical equations and stuff. He had figured out that if he stayed on Edward’s head, then around 57% of the damage would be negated and taken into Edward’s body. So, quite naturally, he had rested himself upon Ed’s head, and had begun to look around for a new master to feed him and worship him – two things he lacked while with Edward.
Soon, the ground was closer then it was before. Ed shut her eyes tightly, as did Ein and then…
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Now Playing: The Big Splendid Astonishing Magic Group (Chrono Cross)
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“What is this?” said a long-haired man. Edward opened her eyes, facing a tall, thin man with long purple hair and to his side, a samurai sword. He had apparently caught her, saving her life from death as well as---
“Ein! Where’s Ein?!” Edward yelped. She looked around frantically to find her beloved dog on the ground. Apparently, he had fallen off her head when the man had caught her. If Ein could speak, he would have been swearing silently right about now…
Edward jumped to her feet and bowed. “Oh, thank you Mr. Samurai-Sword-catching-man! Edward is forever in your debt!”
He reached out an open hand to her. “Seventy-two dollars.”
“Ed…” Edward backed away slowly, “Ed doesn’t have that sort of money, but--” she pointed her hands out towards Ein and sparkly-glowy things appeared around her smiling face, “--you can HAVE THIS WONDERFUL WELSH CORGI FOR ONLY SAVING MY LIFE ONCE! No money back guarantees.”
“Ain’t worth it.”
“Dang.”
He turned around and walked away from Ed, a small breeze beginning to start and a bunch of cherry blossoms (which appeared from nowhere) flew on by. Edward stared after him, feeling somewhat guilty that he saved her life with no real gratitude. She grabbed Ein and dragged him as she followed the samurai-sword man.
“Wait…” she called out, causing him to turn around, “Edward would like to be thanking you for saving her life.”
“It…” he stopped in mid sentence and turned away.
“What is it? Tell Edward, please!”
“It’s just… you remind me of my little brother, before he and the rest of my family were taken into prison for not worshipping the emperor. And now, all I have left to fight for is the memory of my family and…”
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Now Playing: Optimism (Chrono Cross)
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Hey guys! I’m back! Whilst Edward is being bored to death of the angsty past of how that samurai’s family was squashed by elephants or whatever, I’m here to pass over an advertisement!
JESUS ACTION FIGURE!
NOW WITH WALKING ON WATER ACTION! BUY YOURS TODAY!
Now, back to the story!
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Now Playing: The Big Splendid Astonishing Magic Group (Chrono Cross)
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“And that is my life story in 10,000 words. Now, I am here in order to fight the good battle for all humanity.”
“Wow…” said Ed apathetically, as she played with a very interesting stone on the ground. “That’s amazing…”
“Yes, it is.”
Then, as if the writer wanted to finish off this segment lickety-split, the dimensional wormhole opened up in the sky again. The swordsmen looked at Ed and Ein, and he began to walk slowly over there. Before he could reach it however, TOMATO, perched on Edward’s back, lost it’s grip and flung itself over to the wormhole, knocking the man unconscious before disappearing into who-knows-where.
“TOMATO! COME BAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCK!” Edward’s screams were drowned out as she and Ein chased after TOMATO. The wormhole closed, and the man was left on the ground, failing his saving-the-world scheme before he could even start it. Silence reined, until a –BAMF- sound played and a short teenage male stood at the side of the swordsmen. He wore nothing but black, and around his eyes was a blindfold.
“So, it’s begun…” he said, a scowl forming on his face. “This is bad for business…”
And with that, the –BAMF- sound played again and he was gone.
Seeya Soon, Space Cowgirl! _________________
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Magus Mr. Thou

Joined: 28 Nov 2002 Posts: 415 Location: Mount Zozo
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Posted: Sun May 30, 2004 12:23 am Post subject: |
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Cyan Garamonde – 0/2
Silk Flowers
“My dearest Lola,
It has not been a day without me thinking about you. You’re the only reason why I still wake up in the mornings and face the harsh reality upon us. Things have been difficult here in Mobliz. The fish are slowly disappearing and the crops have been dying. The townsfolk have been very nice to me, helping me recover from my injuries and now I hope I can repay them by helping out in the village as much as I can. I hope that someday I’ll be able to be reunited with you again, and I am optimistic, despite it all, that one day we’ll grow old together. In my spare time, I made a gift for you to help you think of me when you’re feeling lonely.
With love,
John.”
The man smiled as he put away his pen and read the letter again to make sure there weren’t any mistakes. It’s been almost a year since he started sending letters to this girl in Maranda through carrier pigeons – at first, it started out as a favor to someone he had met in Mobliz, but now he did it not only for himself, but for the girl as well. The letter she sent back made him feel more comfortable by knowing that he was helping someone else be happy in this wretched world.
He folded the letter neatly and put it in an envelope, then picked a bouquet from a nearby shelf – a rather rustic one, like all the furniture inside the room; the room had just enough items for a man with the simple habits like him feel comfortable, though. The man went to the only window in the room where several pigeons waited for him, and wrapped the letter and the bouquet around a pigeon’s leg and watched as it flew towards Maranda.
The man looked to the city below. From where he stood, he could see the townsfolk going around their own business – which usually consisted in illegal things and taking advantage of outsiders that were unlucky enough to walk in Zozo’s streets without being ready to fight for their lives. It was quite ironic that a man like him had ended up in a town full of liars and criminals, more ironic was the fact that he had chosen to be in this town in the first place.
When he woke up that day, lying on a beach surrounded by the Blackjack’s wreckage completely alone, he almost gave up on everything. He walked aimlessly throughout the world, trying to find out about his friend’s fates. He felt relieved when he met Gau in Maranda – in the same day he found out about Lola’s situation. The boy, however, decided to return to the Veldt to become stronger and fight Kefka and the two parted ways once again, but the knight felt relieved to know that at least one of his comrades had survived the crash. Shortly afterwards, he too set out to train bring Kefka to his demise, and it was in Mount Zozo where he found the perfect place to do it.
Every day, he would wake up just before the sun rose and, fully clad in his blue armor, walk around the mountain range and fight the monsters there. His habits hadn’t changed much from the time Doma was still thriving – his moustache was neatly trimmed as usual – and not a day went by without him training throughout the day. He only stopped for a quick meal, and to craft the silk flowers he sent Lola every day, occasionally reading a book about machinery he had found along the way – at first, he loathed machines, but changed his mind after the time he spent with Edgar and Setzer. Late at night, often bruised and tired from fighting, he would lie in bed and try to rest.
‘Try to rest’ because he had the same dream every night – or rather, the same nightmare every night. Doma was in flames, and Empire’s troopers were all around the castle while Cyan tried to protect his family from the invading troops. He could hear the screams from his fellow knights as the Empire’s troops massacred any opposition they found in their way. Soldier after soldiers fell to Cyan’s blade as they tried to invade the room, but the sheer number of them was too much for him to handle. On a corner, Owain and Elayne watched as he fought against the invading troops. The dream always ended in the same way – after taking out countless soldiers, Kefka would arrive and tear everything apart, laughing all the while as everything was consumed by fire.
He always woke up with his wife and son’s screams inside his head – once again, he wasn’t able to save them, and it consumed him. He tried not to think about it, but during the night he couldn’t help it. He regretted bitterly the fact that he was not able to save those he loved the most despite all his efforts to save them, blaming himself for not preventing Doma’s utter demise. It was no different this morning when he woke up, the nightmares were a part of his routine but he was not quite used to them – as nobody would ever get used to having the same nightmare every night.
He looked through the window until the pigeon had disappeared from sight, and returned to his room, lit only by the unnatural daylight – not only the landscape had changed, the once blue sky was covered in dark clouds and the sun emitted a bright red light, adding to the desolating view. The man picked up his sword, still in its sheath – the sword he had found inside the Floating Continent, named the Murasame – and equipped his Relics, a Hero Ring and a Hyper Wrist for magical and physical boost, walking through the iron door towards the trail in Mount Zozo.
However, what expected him were not monsters but a rather strange gray clad man, wearing a hat and holding a strange machine (that didn’t require steam power!) that seemed to be some sort of typewriter.
“Greetings, Sir Cyan. My name is Ralph and I believe I have a business proposal for you.” The strange man said, before the knight could say a single word to him. He was clearly a foreigner, due to his strange choice of clothing and to a strange accent; which Cyan couldn’t quite recognize.
The two stared at each other for a couple of moments. Cyan was quite overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of Ralph, and it took a while before he could form a coherent sentence. Many questions arose from within his mind, the main one being ‘how do you know my name?’; from he chose none. In his shock, he could only say one thing.
“I am deeply sorry, young lad, but I have some more important business to attend to. If you’ll excuse me.” Cyan walked pass the stranger and continued on his way towards the mountain path, but was stopped by Ralph, who tapped him in the shoulder.
“I’m deeply sorry to bother you, Sir. But you have been selected to partake in a competition along many other strong warriors such as yourself.”
Cyan turned around to face him, slightly irritated with such proposal – as he had never thought about using his sword for personal gain, he thought Ralph’s proposal was quite tactless.
“I am not interested in such petty things such as the one you ask me to take part on. As a loyal retainer to the Doma King, but sense of honor keeps me from accepting such a thing and I would never use my skill for personal gain only. Good day sir.”
He turned around once more, but stopped as he heard a strange sound behind him. Ralph was tinkering with his handheld computer, looking for information that could help him persuade Cyan to join the Tournament. Easily enough, he found just what he needed to convince the noble knight.
“Sir Cyan, I gather you have been having some troubles sleeping for about a year lately.”
Upon hearing this, Cyan decided he had had enough of this nonsense and his hand reached for his sword. Seemingly not worried about it, Ralph simply motioned his hand towards the knight.
“Before you do that, just listen to what I have to say.” He calmly said, and Cyan stopped – his knowing of Cyan’s problems offended and intrigued him at the same time, and if the strange could help him get rid of his nightmares he was willing to listen. “From the data I have, it seems that you have been having problems lately, largely due the pain and suffering you’ve experienced in the recent year.” Ralph continued “If you agree to join me in this… ‘tournament’, I can give you the one thing you wish the most. Peace of mind.”
Cyan let go of his sword’s hilt upon the mention of the words ‘peace of mind’. If the stranger could indeed give him that, then he’d be able to help bringing Kefka down from his throne of power and end his mad reign once and for all. Ralph noticed Cyan’s change of mind, and continued.
“The only thing you have to do is win, and do not worry about how much time you’ll spend. It last for about a week, but only seconds will have passed when you come back.”
Cyan nodded and considered his proposal more calmly. Even if he didn’t win the ‘tournament’ – which he thought it was a little bit nonsensical from his point of view to begin with, – he would at least have the chance to improve his sword and magical skills. The knight looked back to Mount Zozo’s trail, then to Ralph.
“I accept your invitation, then. In my state I am not able to be of much assistance to my friend, wherever they may be. Keep in mind, however, that should you be trying to fool me, you shall taste the blade of my sword.”
Ralph nodded.
“Understood. You have my word on it.” Ralph smiled slightly and pressed a button in his handheld and a thick mist surrounded both. The knight soon lost his consciousness and both men disappeared without a trace.
“Hey Larry.”
“Yeah Moe?”
“Do you think he knows about us?”
“Probably. There isn’t anything he can do about us, though.”
“That guy was just fooling him. He doesn’t know about our existence, not will that strange fellow be able to do anything against us. Don’t worry.”
“Yeah; What Curley said. He never will. He’s ours.” _________________
"I am Cyan, retainer to the King of Doma.
I am your worst nightmare..." |
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CarlyCheeese Scarlet Rain Silence

Joined: 02 Jul 2002 Posts: 1149 Location: Koka-In Temple
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Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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Hisame Shizumaru - Prologue:1
"How soon?"
"... How soon will I be back? I can't say."
"You've been saying that a lot, you know."
"Well, it's the truth... things are dangerous right now, you know that. I have to get to Koka-In at least in the next week - "
"Let me come with you."
Finger to lips.
"Too dangerous. You stay here in Kamui Kotan... only leave with your sister, if that. I don't want you getting hurt because of me."
"I don't care. I want to go - "
"Rimu..." A sigh. "If you do, it'll not be with me. I can't let anyone follow along - not from what Haohmaru-sensei's told me, anyway. He's looking for people just like me, and if I happened to be with someone he didn't need at the time - "
"I know. I just can't bear to let you go alone..."
"I don't want to leave you... but I can't stay near and put Kamui Kotan in danger, either."
Minutes pass.
"... Shizu, it's raining."
"I'll open my umbrella, then."
"What are you feeling?"
"... The usual. Sadness, longing, that sort of thing. You feel it too, right?"
"You're very calm on the outside... you never used to be that way. The rain tells me your heart is otherwise, though... can't you stay just one more night here? Please..."
"Rimu - "
Her hands to his cheek. "I know you won't. Just one last thing before you leave..."
Cherry blossoms flew in the air. Eyes closed, lips light together - rain fell to storm as the kiss went farther.
Minutes pass.
"Shizumaru..."
"I'll be alright. I promise."
"... You'll come back, won't you?"
"As certain as the sun rises."
Footsteps in thunder, then a whisper.
"... I love you. Don't leave me now..."
It was still raining, and had been for three days straight. If his senses hadn't known better, Shizumaru might've thought the whole of Japan itself was under his emotion, but... perhaps only about a kilometer range was the more accurate. His umbrella, Kirisame, rested on his shoulder, open and covering him (for once, being used for its proper function instead of a weapon), though it seemed a bit contradictory - after all, who else used an umbrella to shield themselves from their own tears?
... Then again, most people's emotions didn't tend to cause thunderstorms as his did.
It still unnerved him how the weather changed to the whim of his soul; even after two years it hadn't quite become second nature. Ameki had never seemed to mind it, but then again, he never really did mind much when it came such things. It seemed to defeat the purpose of tears falling from his own eyes - what was the need when he could make heaven weep in his place? It was convienent in at least one sense, he'd concluded, and it did make the grass greener, so he didn't think he would get any complaints there. He hadn't remembered any if he'd gotten them - which was surprising, considering how much that had changed as well.
In some ways, that was a sure blessing, but in others... perhaps not. Haohmaru had said, after he'd mentioned it briefly in passing, that he and Ameki weren't close enough to the point where there could be an instantaneous exchange of memories, and the method the two souls relied on was - well, Ameki certainly liked it; Shizumaru wasn't sure he did as much. It wasn't as often now that he had to ask for a memory, and he did like it that way (it was always embarrassing to ask Ameki).
Shizumaru's foot nearly fell into a hole in the road; only that his sandal touched the rainwater in it first kept him from falling in. He looked down into the puddle, and wondered if his eyes were still seeing straight, seeing as how it was a faint red... and from a quick look up the road, most of the rest of the puddles were as well. Shizumaru suspected almost immediately what the cause was, though with a second opinion -
Ameki, what do you make of that?
Mm...? You mean in the water, no? Smells like it's blood.
Would you say it's human? How sweet do you think it is?
Very sweet. Like... a human girl. Wonder where she is, if not in some demon's stomach already...
I'll be damned if I'm having that sort of breast for dinner, Shizumaru groaned out loud, shaking his head and looking up at the storm clouds once more. Anyway... do you suppose it's another of Yuga's puppets at work? I think we're close enough to a village that he might have passed through...
Smells like lead paint and wood shavings, like all the rest did. Are you going to go after this one, too?
Shizumaru had begun walking again as Ameki had asked him the question, and he dwelled on the answer a minute or so before responding. It was true that he'd taken to demon hunting in the last two years (he seemed to have had a bit of luck with Zankuro, and there wasn't much else he could do), but going after one of Yuga's beasts when that very man was after his blood... that was why he'd had to leave Rimururu. Knowing her, though, she was already bent on following him, and probably had been since he had left Kamui Kotan days ago.
Their kiss still rested in his senses; a song that wouldn't leave his head. Sometimes a solo, sometimes a full-on drumline, but either way, enough to leave its mark. There had been other kisses like it, of course, but things tended to hit you harder once you'd left something behind in the course of doing it. The memory of it slowly sank to the bottom of his mind as he stepped around the pools of blood, but his face was without the worry that would've been there before - there was no need to be concerned he would lose the memory to Ameki anymore. He closed his eyes, sighing about the situation ahead of him that he faced... that all of Japan had to face.
It pained him to know he could do nothing to stop Yuga and the darkness he held in his fingers, and especially so since he knew Rimururu would be going after him along with her older sister. Shizumaru reached into his kimono jacket (a navy blue) and pulled out a small tie-pouch, making sure it was still there - it was what he said he'd gone to Kamui Kotan for, and he did need it; it contained grinding leaves to make salves with (Nakoruru grew them). The actual medicine stung horribly, but not as much as when he left the scars on his back untreated.
It was still raining - his mind, of course, kept drifting back to Rimururu, and so the storm continued on. The bloody water kept his thoughts wary as well - Ameki's reasoning, it seemed, wasn't terribly far off. Half an hour had passed on his travels, and in one puddle, he'd found a blood-soaked piece of kimono silk lying inside. He sighed, plucking it from the water, and kept it for reference, since he was quite sure there was a village coming up rather soon (Ameki said he could smell fish burning, and that usually meant civilization)... if the victim had been from there, one sign of her could serve to help a mourning community.
When he did finally get there, it was nightfall, and though he could see lit lanterns inside a number of small houses, there was no laughter, no conversation - the only thing he heard was the chirp of crickets in the background, and perhaps a bird call or two. The rain (his rain) had stopped, and after he snapped his umbrella shut, he ventured into the town, looking from side to side at what wasn't going on. Even through the door curtain of a teahouse, when he looked in, was utterly silent, and even the geisha inside was doing nothing to try and start some kind of conversation (though he didn't expect geisha outside of Kyoto or Edo to be as skilled, a geisha that simply sat there would be kicked out of any teahouse, no matter where it was). The scene was the same everywhere he went; continually dismal and gloomy.
Shizumaru reached into his kimono jacket, pulling out the blue silk that he'd found - almost sure now that the owner had lived in this village.
A second later, he did hear a sound, though it wasn't one he'd expected to hear; just water sloshing about in a bucket. He turned his eyes to the sound, seeing a young woman in a plain yukata struggling to carry it along, and in a second, he was at her side, asking to see if she needed help.
"If you wish it," she kept her eyes hidden and low. Shizumaru knew what such expressions meant - he'd felt the same way thousands of times - she had been hurt, somehow. She hefted the bucket past another lit doorway, and as the light washed over her figure, Shizumaru could see her wearing... wearing haramaki? It wasn't the bit about a woman wearing men's clothing that caught his attention about it, but that she wore it with her yukata - there was something about her stomach that she was intentionally trying to hide. That as well fit into a pattern of Yuga's appearences...
He was by her side again, and this time, he easily lifted the bucket of water from the woman's hands. "Thank you, but... you really don't need to, sir," she brushed a tangled lock of black hair away from her eyes. "I could get that on my own."
"It's the gentleman thing to do," Shizumaru shrugged, standing in the lantern light - and having his features lit up, it didn't surprise him to see the woman's eyes open up and take a look at him. It was a bit unnerving, though (and even though she was in front of him, when the sleeve of his kimono fell off his shoulder, he'd lifted it back up immediately to hide his scars), to be looked at so appraisingly. It might've been the bishounen part of it all, or maybe she could sense Ameki... but in this case, it turned out to be the former.
"Red hair..." she gasped. "Two swords, bishounen... You couldn't be that demon hunter, right? Hisame Shikamaru or something - "
"Shizumaru," he corrected her, with a shy smile. "I didn't realize I was so infamous."
"Even we've heard of you, and that's saying something," she bowed low to him, but rose back up with a blush when she saw how Shizumaru was offset by it. "... Why have you come here? There... there haven't been any demons around, at least none that we know of. Could there be - "
"I'm nearly sure of it, but that isn't why I came," Shizumaru waved it off. "I only needed to know a few things, foremost how far away Kyoto is... do you know that, ma'am?"
"A day away if you take that road by the sakura tree," she pointed in the direction. "Pardon me for asking, Hisame-san, but you're a demon hunter... if you know one's around, why haven't you killed it yet? You can't be in so much of a hurry to just leave it alone, and we'll pay you well, I'm sure of it..."
"Perhaps I might," Shizumaru's eyes turned to the side, wondering if he had seen something scrambling about in the distance. "I am in a hurry to get to Kyoto, though. If you don't mind me asking, ma'am," he turned his eyes back, looking right at the haramaki, and what he knew was under it - or, rather, what wasn't, "... When did your child disappear?"
The woman paled and nearly fainted, collapsing to the ground in shock. "... How did you know that?" she whispered in fear, now looking at Shizumaru in terror and not awe (a look he was much more used to having on him). "How - "
"I'll say this, ma'am, that I know this isn't the first time such things have happened. I'm right in thinking all the rest of the children in this village suddenly disappeared, as well?" he knelt down by the woman's side, not wanting to impose his figure on her. When he saw the woman nod in response, he sighed, and continued on with his questions. "How old was the oldest child taken?"
"Sansei." Three years old. "But what does that have to do with it...?"
Three hundred tongues of infant children, 1,867 meters of Shumi mountain silkworm silk, and a lump of lava...
The bone construction of a Gandara. You're thinking it, too?
Yuga's making one. More than one, likely.
"... I have my suspicions," Shizumaru bowed his head, fearing the worst had already come to pass for the children of the village. "I don't know what I can do to try and save them, but I'll do what I can. ... Was there a puppeteer who came through, recently?" he asked again with the questions, only to make sure if it really was Yuga behind the disappearances -
"There was, yes. Were you trying to follow him to Kyoto?"
- Shizumaru decided to make that murders, not disappearances. And if he was headed to Kyoto, of all places, Gohan was there - "Is there any faster way to get to Kyoto? I truly can't stay long here," Worry shone bright in his eyes. "I'm afraid one of my friends and a number besides are going to be in danger."
"No faster way. I'm sorry," she sighed. "Hisame-san... are we going to be alright? Will everything be back to normal?" her hand fell to her stomach under the haramaki, and she looked to the young man pleadingly for her answer. Shizumaru could only sigh in response, and his eyes fell to the side another time, trying to avoid the woman's eyes.
"... I don't know. Hold this for just a moment," he handed her the umbrella, Kirisame, and stood back up, brushing off his hakama trousers, nonchalantly turning his head and pulling out his nodachi, thrusting it into the gut of the demon that had just approached the two of them in the street. The beast let out an earsplitting roar (the woman with Shizumaru's umbrella covered her ears in fright), and he swiped wildly in the air for what had attacked him. Shizumaru pushed off from the demon's stomach, drawing out his nodachi, and ducked the swipe, plunging in and slashing over his head to cut into the demon's stomach - which elicited another howl.
The demon was a massive beast, looking like a tiger or somesuch (even though there weren't any in Japan, besides the oni, Shizumaru thought he knew what the meaning of this one was), and its fangs were bared, saliva pooling over from a thin lip, and livid cat eyes were focused only on Shizumaru. For his part, it wasn't the size of the demon that bothered Shizumaru as much as the thin strings almost growing from its paws, the painted look of its face and body... and, of course, the last few shreds of a blue silk kimono hanging from its teeth.
Bemusedly, he stepped slowly to the right to avoid another swipe from the demon's heavy paw, examining the painted look closer (even as the woman was shrieking in terror for him to kill it straight away). If his eyes didn't deceive him, it was mock Bunraku, or some twisted version of the traditional puppetry - exactly what Yuga's style tended to be. He jumped out of the way of another swipe, and rolled on his side towards the demon, swinging back with his nodachi to strike deeply into the beast's gut. When the blood spilled out, it hardly smelled as such, and Shizumaru hid out of the way to avoid it (it smelled an awful lot like tar, and that was particularly hard to get out of his clothing).
Not tar. Black paint. Like they use in Kabuki...
Doesn't matter much either way, does it? Shizumaru smirked, swinging the nodachi over his head, and piercing more of the demon's flesh with his last attack. He let out a little yelp when one of the demon's paws slashed at him to try and get him away from its inside, and he ducked low, rolling back out for cover. Shizumaru cracked his knuckles, brushed back a stray lock of blood-red hair, and turned to the woman (still in shock) with a kind smile - "Toss that here, would you, please?"
She complied, though it wasn't a very strong throw (Shizumaru had to lunge a bit to catch it properly). With his usual weapon in hand, Shizumaru resheathed his nodachi, then held the umbrella out at length as the puppet demon snarled at him, growling before it flung itself toward him. In response, Shizumaru jumped high into the air before the demon landed on him, and snapped open the umbrella - in a moment he was floating on air, and drifting away from the beast. It leapt after him, of course (which was exactly what Shizumaru had been planning on), and so Shizumaru broke out of the freefall, spinning the umbrella as fast as he could. When the points flashed through the demon's skin, a spray of his paint-blood rained in the air, and it let out another earsplitting howl as both demon and hunter fell to the ground.
Shizumaru jumped away from the demon right away, but it still swiped at him, nearly catching one of his legs in its claws. He turned on his heel immediately and sped back towards the demon, bringing his hand back with the umbrella in order to attack. The demon lunged for him, but Shizumaru swerved out of the path and swung hard upwards with the umbrella, knocking the demon into the air. The transition from canvas to blade took less than a second, and the sword carved a deep cut through the demon as both it and Shizumaru shot up into the air; an arc of the black paint-blood crossing the sky.
Shizumaru kicked off of the beast and flipped once before falling to the ground; the demon itself fell with another earthshaking crash. Through the darkness, Shizumaru could see a number of people peering out of doorways, watching his fight in a degree of fear and admiration. All of their eyes were on the demon, however, and not him (which was probably for the better), as the puppet staggered to its feet, baring its teeth once more - almost mocking him with the blue silk that still hung from its fangs.
You can go faster than this. Kill it.
I will, I will. You needn't rush me, Ameki, Shizumaru rolled his eyes. Ameki did have a point though; it really wasn't a good idea to daudle around fighting demons, especially if they were Yuga's. From there, he went on Ameki's advice, and decided not to hold off any longer. He tossed his umbrella to the side, and as the puppet demon rushed toward him, Shizumaru's hand went to the hilt of his sword over his right shoulder, and his thumb clicked up at the hilt, drawing out the Muramasa slowly. It wasn't often he relied on the sword, but he commonly did finish off enemies with it these days - just something that seemed to feel right.
With the Muramasa slowly drawn out, he held it ready for his final attack, as the demon began to rush toward him, the ground shaking under his every step. Shizumaru's face was calm and peaceful as he collected up his focus - the woman who watched by the wayside (clutching onto his umbrella like a security blanket) was fixed on his moves; or rather the lack thereof, entranced by his serenity, even as the demon rushed toward him. She was about to scream out for him to get out of the way, until he saw his eyes snap open, fixed with a darkness that she couldn'tve imagined the young man having, even after how briefly she had talked to him.
Her eyes were frozen open in shock, but even then, she had been completely unable to see what had gone on in front of her eyes. All she knew was that for the one second she had seen, starting with the demon hunter opening his eyes and ending with the collapse of the demon on the other side, some kind of attack had happened in that instant - and it hadn't been a nice and neat one, either; the sword that he had used was dripping in the demon's blood (though if her eyes were deceiving her, that blood was being pushed off of the blade), and the hunter himself had gotten a fair share of it on himself. Her fright was still paramount as she hid beside the doorway, clutching onto the umbrella and quivering in fear.
"Koyomi," Shizumaru smiled, a bit modestly. "I only use this sword for it. Could you see what happened, ma'am?"
"N- no, I - I couldn't," she squeaked.
"That's fine, then," he whipped his head around to get his hair out of his face (not wanting to smear his face with the paint-blood), and walked to the fallen form of the demon, where it twitched helplessly. It tried to struggle to attack again as Shizumaru stood beside its giant head, but it was too weak to do anything, for it had lost too much blood. Shizumaru bowed his head, but said no prayer - and cut with the Muramasa straight across the demon's throat. He was true to his name, silent, watching the recent corpse intently, and all of the villagers at the wayside began to creep out of their hiding spots to see the demon. None of them would dare to venture out to look at it while it was alive, of course - only in death would they disregard their conduct.
Not many really got to see what the beast looked like up close as Shizumaru had, though - the corpse somehow deflated, like a sack of air suddenly collapsed under weight, and it began to shrivel up, shrinking down into what was the original puppet that Yuga had constructed the demon for - and in its mouth, was the clear remains of a shredded blue silk kimono. Shizumaru sheathed the Muramasa, and pulled the bloody swath of the blue silk that he had found outside the village - there was no doubt that it matched the fabric that was there before him. He bowed his head, knowing that whatever fate the girl who wore it had suffered could hardly have been a kind one.
The puppet now lying at his feet, though, was a clear sign that Yuga had indefinitely been in the area. Shizumaru stared at it grimly, with a hint of anger pooling in his heart, as the villagers began to crowd around him and the puppet, all a-flutter with questions and praise - the young man heard it, but he didn't hear it at the same time; as it flew by his mind in gusts of wind. He slipped out of the crowd so quietly that barely anybody noticed he had disappeared until the lack of a head of spiky red hair was not in their midst. Shizumaru had gone to the haramaki woman's side - partly to retrive his umbrella, but also to finish what questions he had for her. He reached out his hand to her to help her up to her feet - at first she gave him his umbrella back instead, but he reached out with the other hand and then she deduced enough to take it, as he pulled her to her feet.
"Thank you," she mumbled. "You're a very good swordsman... you live up to your reputation."
"I was the student of a well-known warrior," he nodded, and patted his umbrella a few times - "Thank you for keeping my Kirisame safe. If I might ask, ma'am, if you don't mind... how far into your pregnancy were you?"
"Seven months," she mumbled; the subject, he presumed, was a terribly sensitive one. "The baby just - just was gone, overnight. It wasn't simply that, either," she bit her lip, not wanting to go on; but Shizumaru knew the signs of a village ravaged by Yuga easily enough.
"The womb itself was gone as well, wasn't it?" he grimaced, as the woman nodded slowly. "And it happened to the other woman in this village, didn't it?"
"How - how can you know all of this?" the woman's eyes filled with tears, clinging to Shizumaru for support in light of all he had quickly uncovered about the nightmare that had happened in the village. "You only just came, Hisame-san... and yet you can say so strongly what has happened..."
Shizumaru frowned, and gently set the woman straight on her own feet. "The person responsible for it has very... distinct signs of his presence. Has there been anything else strange - no matter how insignificant? The more I know, the better."
"Nothing that I know of," she shook her head. "Please... if you can find out anything about what's happened to us - "
"I'm trying to do that," Shizumaru's eyes drew away from the woman, falling back to the crowd surrounding the puppet. "I have to reach Kyoto before I do anything, though. I can't do much if I'm dead," he smirked, and turned to leave, nodding his head as he headed towards the sakura tree that the woman had specified earlier. "Sayonara, ma'am."
The woman wasn't quite satisfied with his answers as he walked off from the scene, and she quickly caught up to him, yanking at the back of his kimono jacket to get his attention. "Why can't you stay and protect us if you're looking for somewhere to hide? Hisame-sa... oh god," she backed away from him, covering her mouth with her hands as Shizumaru straightened his jacket back up again, covering up the open scars once more. "Those wounds - "
"I have salves for them," Shizumaru brought out the pouch of salves from inside his kimono, waving it so that she could see. "I didn't get them from that demon just now, so you don't have to worry too much. I know how to treat them."
"You can't just go travelling with scars like that!" she protested. "Hisame-san, you just saved us from that demon... and you won't let us do anything for you? We can give you money, or food, and treat your wounds; anything - "
It was funny, how drastically he had changed in the eyes of people these past years. Though as before, he didn't want to rely on charity he didn't need, and so he refused it once more then: "Only if you want to give me something. I won't ask for anything I don't need, and right now, I don't think I need much - just to reach Kyoto is all I need."
The woman sighed, knowing she wasn't going to coerce a 'yes' out of the demon hunter one way or another. "How else can we thank you? There has to be some way..."
Shizumaru stopped, and turned his head back to the woman, who stood livid in the moonlight, waiting for his response.
"If you want to thank me, forget about me and never speak a word that I was here."
--
Four days, Shizumaru.
I know, Ameki. I haven't forgotten. Have I ever?
No, you haven't. Even so... you've been walking an awfully long while. Your body will be weak in four days if you continue at this pace, you know.
Yes, but I'm seeing some very beautiful scenery along the way...
You ought to know by now that your sarcasm only intrigues me more. If you have another remark such as that, I ought to be provoked to quiet you down...
Mm... well, if that's the way you're bound to treat me, I've decided I won't speak anymore. How much can you be intrigued by my words if you don't hear any?
On the contrary; that only makes things enticing.
... Damn.
In any case, Kyoto should be nearby. Forgotten how to get to the Koka-In Temple already?
No, no, I remember very well where it is, thank you. I don't need any particular memories at the moment, unfortunately.
... Damn.
... I can't help but wonder if Gohan got out of Gion safely. That woman in the village said that Yuga had been heading towards Kyoto - no, I'm not saying that he actually had the nerve to go in the city, but if he came across Gohan...
You're not giving her enough credit. The girl is, admittedly, quite resourceful.
I'm not trying to undermine her credibility, Ameki, I'm just worried, is all.
Foremost right now is your own safety. Yuga has the Han-in no Onna, but a Hanyo no Otoko he doesn't. It was risky enough taking on that puppet demon of his - you can't worry about that girl, after the situation you're in.
Ah, I know you're right, but I'm still worried about her, and Rimu, and everyone else... and you know the worst part is, I can't do a thing about it - I can't do anything for them. What's the use of me in this battle if I can't even be a part of it?
You don't need to worry so much. Fate has its place in everything, after all. Your battle might not even be fought here.
You know I don't believe in things like fate...
Perhaps you might, sometime. What else chose you to wield the Muramasa that you keep? Is it sheer coincidence that it came to your aid against that angel?
Not necessarily. ... I heard a voice speak to me and tell me that it had sent the sword to me, after all.
Even if that is true, the wielders of the blade tend to all fall to one certain end, do they not? And would that, then, not be fate at work?
Is it fate that decides their end, or the spirit of the Muramasa itself?
'Tcha... you and I, we'll never get anywhere arguing like this. I do think you should rest, if only for a little while - nothing well ever came of wearing a body down... unless, of course, it's during -
Ameki!
- well, it's true. But do take heed and don't run yourself down.
For you, I would make my bed the night sky, and the sheet above me the stars, so you and I could rest in the heavens...
Your flippancy is remarkable at times. Aren't you going to follow up on your vow of silence? It would make things much more pleasurable in the process of exchanging memories...
Aren't I already silent during... that?
You have a point. Ah... you appreciate the feeling more than you admit, Shizumaru; you know it full well. You don't need to feel guilty about what has to be done, however...
That sort of intimacy... modesty tends to keep it quiet.
A quality which I think I have none of.
I don't doubt that, no.
...
... Four days.
- Ara...
--
It was sunset over Kyoto, and the few bright stars lonesome in the first hint of evening hung in the horizon (planets, really, but to most commonfolk it didn't make much difference). The city's bustling streets were busy with life and commerce, brawling and gossip, and for all that the people knew, there was nothing in the way of a peaceful time in Japan. With the darkness over the sun passing to usher in the night, along with it was its lover in evil; the veil of magic and sorcery that the puppeteer, Yuga, had woven for nearly twenty years in preperation for his rise to power. It was a subtle transformation that had swept over the land, one that hardly anyone noticed - until, of course, it was too late. Those few who were able to stand up to such a menace were a handful of a handful, and two of those number could not be expected to make any sort of stand against the sorceror (a sorceress, rather; but for all intents and purposes, he was male as could be).
One of those two paced listlessly at the steps of the Koka-In Temple, though it wasn't Shizumaru - from the sky's dawning of storm clouds, however, he couldn't be too far off. The pacing figure was a petite girl, and slightly buxom, though her chest had been tightly wrapped down with a starched cloth - which was, in turn, covered by a yukata in periwinkle, embroidered with a simple pattern of deep blue ocean waves. A raindrop fell onto her cheek as she looked up to the sky, and she grinned broadly.
"Je t'attend là, où rien bouge maintenant," she spoke - albeit, with an obvious Japanese accent, "... En particulier, vous," her eyes fell to the monk who was sitting behind her, smiling cheerily under his broad bamboo hat.
"I wasn't aware they taught the Gion geisha foreign languages," the monk chucked; though his voice was faint from old age.
"They don't. There was this French guy ages ago who used to stare at me all the time and he'd tell me that, every night I saw him - except for that last bit, of course," she shrugged, and continued peering up into the stormy clouds, despite the raindrops. "Je t'attend là..."
"You're too hard on my ears - tell me what all the je-tatte-n-ra's all about or I'll kick you out," he waved his staff at the girl as she paced, but for her part, the girl didn't find the jangling rings on the end of the staff very threatening.
"It means, since you're so impatient, 'I'm waiting here, where nothing moves right now'."
"And the last bit?" he leaned onto his palm, tapping his fingers against his wrinkled skin - still smiling as he always did.
"... 'In particular, you'," she grinned, dodging the swipe from the monk's staff. "I think it's exotic to know a foreign language, myself... I try to learn what I can. You don't look like you appreciate the value of variation much, Caffeine-san," the girl finally stopped pacing, standing a bit distance away from the monk. "Too good for anything but Japanese, aren't you?"
The monk set down his staff, and took a puff from the pipe that he had been keeping at his side. When he held the piece out from his mouth in two fingers, he was still smiling, and responded cheerily, "Then you're saying you're too good for Japanese if I'm too good for anything but? You've put yourself in a trap of words, miss... and it's all because you started rattling off in a different language. How's that for appreciating your native tongue?"
"'Tcha! You're just jealous because you don't know a lick of French," she stuck her tongue out at the monk.
"Touche," The monk, Caffeine Nicotine, took another puff on his pipe with a wink.
"... Oh, put a lid on it," the girl threw up her hands in frustration. "You're impossible! Why in the world did Haohmaru-san tell me to go here, anyway? You'd think he could find somewhere better we could go, like... I don't know, Ryuu-kyu or something. And it's been four days since... wonder if Shizumaru-kun's alright," she scratched her chin, all too aware she was rambling on - she tended to do that when she was anxious. "It's raining, so I guess he's okay, but..."
"He should be fine. You worry too much," Nicotine laughed, taking another deep breath from the pipe. "Both of you do, come to think of it..."
The girl sighed, craning her neck up into the sky once more, as if looking to see if Shizumaru would suddenly fall down from the clouds into her arms, like one of the raindrops that had already fallen. She shook her head from the thought soon enough, and ran a hand through her black forelock, trying to keep it out of her face - a motion out of habit; nothing she did ever stopped it from being unruly. Instead, she took off her glasses, cleaning the raindrops off with the hem of her yukata, and thought that would be enough to satisfy her - though a second later, she was untwisting her hair out of its ponytail, shaking it out roughly (presumably to retie it back, but she never did get around to it).
"Wish he'd hurry up already," Saishoku Gohan fluffed out her hair some more, yawning and stretching - Nicotine just smiled and blew out a cloud of smoke, staring off into the distance. When the geisha turned and stared at the horizon to see just what that monk was looking at, her red eyes lit up mischieviously, and she grinned broadly.
"There you are," she said to herself, under her breath, seeing a familiar red-haired figure running towards them (a bit weighted down by the swords on his back, but speedy nonetheless). Gohan sprinted down the steps lightly and sped toward him, wondering if she should hug the young man or slap him for making her so anxious - though in the end, she did neither. "What kept you so long, Shizumaru-kun? You weren't off trying to make a quick buck again, were you?"
"No, nothing like that," Shizumaru smiled, and pulled out the little pouch of salves that he'd gotten from Nakoruru - when Gohan saw the bag, she closed her eyes, and laughed a bit; she figured she ought to have known that was the case. "You'll help me out with them tonight, won't you, Gohan?"
"I think I'll have to levy a fee first," she elbowed him playfully on the arm. "It's a good thing you did show up, though, Caffeine-san is driving me absolutely crazy. I thought you said he didn't like to play around with younger women..."
"Oh, he does. Likes them quite young, in fact," Shizumaru turned to Gohan matter-of-factly, putting the pouch of salves back inside his kimono jacket (and pulling the sleeves back up onto his shoulders). "Right when they're about fourty or so..."
"I should've known you'd pull something like that on me," Gohan rolled her eyes, but was smiling as she and Shizumaru both walked up the steps of the Koka-In Temple, both standing in front of Nicotine (both towered over the old monk by a good two feet or so). Shizumaru bowed deeply to the monk, and in response, got a smack on the head with the monk's cane, which Gohan wasn't pleased with - "What the hell did you do that for, old man?! He just got here and you're already hitting him for what he hasn't done!"
"He has his reasons," Shizumaru rubbed the spot where Nicotine had hit him, gently.
"I do indeed," the monk's smile was getting on Gohan's nerves a bit. "Haohmaru's student, I think, has been rather lucky with the women-folk lately, hasn't he?"
"He has," Shizumaru looked away innocently.
Gohan raised her eyebrows, slightly impressed. "You're trying to catch up to my skills with the opposite sex? That'll be the day... hah!"
"It wasn't like that, Gohan," Shizumaru waved her off. "Anyhow - you've been doing well, Caffeine-san? Gohan hasn't been pestering you too much, has she?"
"She's a spirited girl, I'll give her that. Lots of fire. Aha!" he clapped his hands, smiling with his teeth this time (one of them was a golden tooth; he loved it more than his smoking pipe). "Fire and rain! You two are so much alike, and yet so different. Demon at heart, but attuned to just the opposite elements... both with the warrior's spirit, and yet you use opposite styles...! The universe is very clever in weaving its spell, isn't it?" the monk burst out into a cackle of laughter, while Gohan and Shizumaru looked on, exchanging a look of incredulity between themselves.
Nicotine calmed himself down after a moment, and took another calming puff on his smoking pipe, putting that down and turning to Shizumaru. "If you'd like, I had the geisha here start up a bath for you, for something to relax in after travelling so long. Beds and food and the like as well... I'm a very generous man," he chuckled.
"That'd be nice, yeah," Shizumaru nodded, just a bit suspicious of it really being Nicotine's idea, and not Gohan's instead - but either way, he was exhausted from his travels, and the thought of hot water on his skin was a comforting thought. "I suppose I ought to get started on that, then, shouldn't I... again, Caffeine-san, thank you for letting us stay here."
"No trouble, no trouble," Nicotine waved the two of them off, and they ran down the hall into the temple, their footsteps echoing as they caught up on their experiences in minutes. The monk continued to stare at the sky - the storm clouds had passed, now that Shizumaru's heart wasn't dwelling on something else, and he used his staff to pick out his favorite stars, one after the other. Soon after he heard nothing inside the temple - perhaps, maybe, a ripple or two from the bathwater outside, but otherwise, things seemed very peaceful.
Nicotine stopped, looking up at the sky - the path of his staff had carved the ura manji in the stars.
"... Not good, not good," he frowned, for once.
--
Shizumaru.
Mm... what is it? I finally get a chance to relax and you keep bugging me...
You were dozing off. Your skin's becoming rather soft, as well; I'd say that's as good a sign as any to get out of the bath.
I haven't had a decent bath in ages, can't you be a little more forgiving? All they had in Kamui Kotan was freezing river water, if you'll remember.
I remember well, yes... that was interesting.
I hadn't really expected Rimu to come in with me, you'll recall...
I recall, more or less, the water becoming considerably warmer after she showed up, so you've no excuse for being in a sore lack of hot water.
... Well... it wasn't as warm as this...
Your skin's soft enough to properly apply the salves to. I don't suppose you want to wait on that any more...
What I'd like to know is why you're so anxious for me to get out. There's something I'm not seeing outside, is that it? Ameki?
...
... You're impossible sometimes. Can't you tell me what you're feeling?
... Someone's coming.
"Where - " Shizumaru sat up in the water, looking for whoever Ameki had been in a fit about. Seeing as how it was nighttime, even as his eyes searched through the darkness, there was no one he could see - and luckily for Shizumaru right about then, no one who could see [i]him, standing up in the bath as he was. Shizumaru grimaced at Ameki's laughter (which was sprinkled with a trace of longing) as his face burned red, and he groped about on the outside of the wooden bath for the robe he'd brought out for afterwards. It was as good as any time to step out, he figured, tying the sash around his waist, and climbing out of the bath lazily.
He had been drying his face off with a spare cloth, his mind dwelling on what Ameki had mentioned about the river and Rimururu's appearence. It was only for the fact that he'd been sitting under a waterfall in meditation that he hadn't noticed her coming - not that he would've expected her to show up, anyway. It had almost been a picturesque scene, together in the water, swimming about each other, reaching for hands and heart, and simply holding on to each other's body, content enough to be around each other - for both knew that such peace would not be given to them in coming days, if, perhaps, ever again.
His heart was longing for her more than he had thought possible, and it hurt him beyond belief to feel the sorrow tugging sharply on his heart. She was the only person who had ever loved him so, and the only one he had ever loved in such a way likewise - but for all his stamina, all his sheer power gained from that fateful tournament two years before, and for all his willpower, he found himself weak to defend himself against the loss and of the flood of memories that reminded him of her, hour after hour.
The thought of wishing Ameki still lived off of memories such as those haunted him, filling him with guilt - the pain was immeasurable in every sense to bear, but was it worth it all if it was given to him by the one person he loved? He was tortured by the wedge that Yuga's onslaught had dropped between them, but it hadn't been so much sadness as more as finding things to be angry at - Haohmaru for telling him to escape and hide, Ameki for being the reason why he couldn't fight and do anything about the situation, Yuga for creating the very situation in the first place, and even that pesky Galford who was too damn happy about it all. Moreover he was mad at himself for being furious at all of those who had just touched on his nerves lately, one way or the other - it wasn't typical of him to be so angry.
Shizumaru's ear picked up a faint sound; he recognized it as Gohan's singing (it wasn't as nasal as most geisha's singing voices were, but still charming nonetheless), and it brought a faint smile to his lips - even if he felt angry towards everyone else, Gohan was someone ripped from her own life, forced into hiding just as he had been - what could she be to blame for? The girl wasn't as optimistic as Rimururu tended to be, but she was more than charming in her own funny little way; just as geisha were intended to be. He straightened out the robe he was wearing, and slid open the door to the room Gohan was in as quietly as she could manage - but she heard him anyway.
"I'm dressed, don't worry," she laughed, as Shizumaru slid the door all the way open and entered inside, taking a look at the surroundings - a futon had been laid out for each of them on opposite ends of the room (there wasn't a third, thankfully; Shizumaru wasn't too sure he wanted to sleep in the same room as Nicotine just yet), and on his side, his belongings had been neatly stacked and folded, whereas on Gohan's... except for her two swords, which had been carefully hung on the wall, 'haphazard' didn't come close to describing her minor wreck of a mess. "This is what happens when I don't have maids cleaning up for me all the time," Gohan apologized with a grin, and waved Shizumaru to her futon, where she'd been preparing Nakoruru's salves with a bowl and pestle, with a bit of water to make a paste. "They have impeccable fashion sense, though... none of them would let me leave in plain robes. Then again, that's all we really have at the okiya," she was careful in her words; never once had Shizumaru heard Gohan refer to her okiya as 'home'.
"Gion has the sorts of girls that're always in fashion," Shizumaru knelt down in front of her, his mood lightening quickly now that he wasn't dwelling on things lighting his temper on fire. "I wouldn't expect anything less from Kyoto."
"And their girls have the nicest breasts we know of," Gohan snickered (she'd taken off her chest wrap at least an hour before, and the difference it made on her body was startling). "Should I be saying stuff like that? You're not paying me for it..."
"Neither is Caffeine-san," Shizumaru grinned.
"Oh, you just - ooh, men be damned sometimes," Gohan threw up her hands (nearly knocking over the bowl of paste she'd whipped up), and sighed, straightening out her yukata and her legs to sit comfortably. "You're exuding quite the warmth there, I suppose you just got out of the bath? That'll make applying the salves a lot easier this time around."
"I did," he nodded, and slowly dropped the robe down from his shoulders and to his waist, exposing the open scars that had become as much a part of him as the words of a book. He wasn't fond of the salves due to how dreadfully they stung, but in such scenarios, it couldn't be helped. "Just a little bit at first, Gohan."
"I know, I know," Gohan dipped her fingers into the pasty mix, and - as lightly as she could - barely touched her fingers just on the outside skin of one open scar, but she pulled her hand back immediately when Shizumaru let out a yell of agony. "Ack... they really need to find a better way to treat this sort of thing. What good is a treatment if it hurts the person more than it heals?"
"I'll - I'll be fine," Shizumaru gasped - the salves were just about one of the worst sensations he had ever experienced in his life, about akin to having a cut on his eye cauterized with hot magma, or maybe on his waist; either way it still hurt worse than hell. "Keep going. It gets better after time."
"If you say so..." Gohan touched her fingers to the scar again, and she winced, seeing how hard it was for Shizumaru to restrain himself from screaming out in pain. As she gently rubbed in the salves to one scar, her low voice brought up more conversation to try to lighten the mood - though in the end, it turned out doing exactly the opposite. "You must have passed through a town or five on your way to Kyoto, Shizumaru-kun. Did - did you see any signs of... of Yuga?" she said the name quietly, as if its utterance would lead to the very being coming to life in that very room. "There hasn't been much in Gion, or, well, Kyoto, or even Osaka, but it was suspicious to me when a number of statues of the Buddha suddenly disappeared... most people thought on the sacrilegiousness of it all, but that's not came to my mind first," she dipped her fingers into the salve paste again, and rubbed a bit more deeply into the scar she had been already treating. "... They were all made out of copper, was the problem."
"To create the flesh," Shizumaru murmured, despite the pain his back was going through.
"A number of wild pigs had been slaughtered as well, and in fact... it was exactly fourty," Gohan pursed her lips grimly. "Did you come across anything?"
"... There was one village I did pass through," Shizumaru thought back to just the night before, when he had fought against Yuga's puppet demon and uncovered the horrible tragedy fallen upon one small village in the countryside. "All of the infants had suddenly disappeared. A pregnant woman's amniotic fluid had been entirely drained, and that child abducted as well. And, following that... all of the wombs of the women were completely gone, when someone cared to inspect."
"Then he's doing it for sure," Gohan sighed. "He is making a Gandara."
"1,205 bodies of healthy men and a thousand pieces of five thousand year old fragrance cedar, to create the bones..." Shizumaru whispered, listing off the ingredients.
"Then three hundred infant's tongues, 1,867 meters of Shumi silkworm thread, and one lump of lava to construct the bones," Gohan followed up with the next step.
"Four thousand and three muscular men, sixty-seven silver satin threads..."
"Thirteen and a half fall leaves from a Bodaiziyu tree... 70,164 arthropod eggs, a pinch of sulfur, and thirty-seven and a half kilograms of copper - all to create the flesh."
"2,272 and a half grams of golden dust to construct the flesh," Shizumaru closed his eyes, listing off the next part of the horrific recipe.
"Domestic animal excretions, yech - from eighty-five animals... that for an eggshell for the doll? Disgusting," the geisha shuddered. "And ugh, the conception of the Gandara... gives me chills just thinking about it."
"The amniotic fluid of eleven pregnant woman..."
"The blood of nine virgin girls."
"460 liters of ocean water."
Gohan shuddered again before the next step - "A thousand sexual organs of females... ai ai, that's painful. Not as much as the salves, though, it seems."
"Or not even as much as the three thousand scrotums," Shizumaru winced at the last one.
"Well, I can't speak for that one. And the last bit, of course, hatching the bastard thing and sewing on skin leather from fourty pigs. I can't imagine what the hell that thing'll look like... can't possibly be as pretty as you," she smirked. "Or any of the Gion girls, come to think of it..."
"You're one of those Gion girls, remember," Shizumaru turned to smile at her, relaxing under the tension of the salves a bit, now that he'd gotten used to the stinging pain. "Why in the world would Yuga be trying to construct a Gandara, is the question... if he has a Han-in no Onna, he just needs a Hanyo no Otoko to proceed - where does the Gandara factor in? Maybe he's just making one for the hell of it, to prove that he can," he shrugged. "... I wonder, Gohan..."
"Eh? What about, Shizumaru-kun?" Gohan looked up from treating Shizumaru's scars for a brief moment.
"You had to be pulled out of life like this, just like I was - and you don't regret it for a moment, do you?"
Gohan didn't answer for a long time, merely continuing with applying the salves. "I don't like the reason it had to be done, and I do have many friends in Gion... but I enjoy any reprieve I get, I suppose I'll say that," her eyes fell a bit glumly. "I just don't know these days about what I used to think. Even you're different, you know."
"How so?" Shizumaru's eyebrows raised, curiously.
"I'll pose a couple questions, then, to prove it. Suppose I had the chance to get rid of my demon... do you think I should take it?" Her red eyes lit up, as it was a question that she had often debated time and time again - but never one that she had posed to Shizumaru anytime before.
"What would you gain?" His response was calm and quiet.
"Life? Freedom? I don't know... it'd give me new hope, at least. A dream, for once," Gohan sighed, a bit wistfully - though she had learned, long ago, living in dreams was not the proper way to go about life as a geisha. "What about you - wouldn't you get rid of yours in a heartbeat?"
"... Not anymore."
"And that's exactly what I mean. You can live with it, but I can't... I can't figure out how. It's like it's eating at me, day by day, and neither of us can escape it. Wish I knew how to deal with mine like you with yours," her face held only trace emotion; nothing showing on the outside, though inside her heart, Shizumaru knew she was troubled deeply. After her little tirade, she asked a question that he hadn't expected to hear - "... How did your demon awake, anyway? I mean... we, er, both know how mine did," she looked away innocently, "but as for you - it couldn'tve just come to life in that one night... how did it happen?"
"I can't say," Shizumaru dodged the answer, as he did with anyone who asked - it had been difficult enough to tell Haohmaru two years before, and he had not even confided into Rimururu how it had happened (though to her, it didn't really matter)... he wasn't sure if Gohan would be able to understand exactly what the situation had been. "Besides - "
"You don't want me to know the answer, then? So it either happened in a way particularly embarrassing or in a situation you don't think I could comprehend... and those are both right, aren't they? Shizumaru-kun, it's best to tell the truth in these kinds of situations," Gohan almost was scolding him - but her face suddenly burned red when Shizumaru answered her,
"Then you could do the same and say you already know how it happened."
"... And even if I do know, why can't you admit it to me?" Gohan's blush subsided.
"I know you overheard me when I was talking to Haohmaru-sensei about it. What's the use of admitting what happened when you already know, Gohan? Fine, maybe I was dreaming somehow, but I know I was gone somehow because if I woke up from something, I had at least this - " he held up his left hand, where on one of his fingers was a ring with intricate beauty; not even in Gion could such a stone that precious be found, " - and a demon awake in my soul. If you're trying to call me insane for believing I was in those tournaments, then you bring me proof that Tachibana Ukyo isn't dead and maybe I'll grant it - alright?"
He'd been breathing at a fast pace, and it was then that he realized he had gotten angry at one of the people he swore he never would be. Gohan had tensed up as he'd lashed out at her, and her eyes were wide and livid, but it wasn't anger inside them that he saw - more of a cold frustration - and her lips, usually in a cocky smile, were pursed in the same sense as her eyes were. Shizumaru's heart felt dead then, when he saw how his temper had struck the girl, and he hung his head in shame. "... I'm sorry. ... Things have been stressful lately..."
"I know," Gohan relaxed a bit, dipping her fingers into the salve paste again (and positioning Shizumaru face-forward again so that she could continue the treatment), rubbing the stinging mixture into his other scar, as tenderly as she could manage. "I hadn't meant to pry... but I did overhear that night. I wasn't asking for the purpose of trying to ask about the experience, don't get me wrong - just that an idea had fallen into my mind. I'd have to know something before I could propose it, though," Gohan frowned.
"I'll answer what you want. It's the least I can do for snapping at you like that," Shizumaru was looking off at the wall, not even feeling the sheer pain that the salves brought to his open skin - just as a storm tapers off when it has shot lightning into the ground, so was his usual show of anger; coming in one burst, but taking a while for him to stop thinking about it and feeling the guilt it brought him. "What were you wondering?"
"How were you taken to those tournaments? Did someone just up and invite you, or do you just get zipped away like that?" Gohan flicked with her hands to emphasize the motion. "Because, if it's the former..."
"It happened both times. The first, I was directly invited by someone, and the second, just... one moment I was in Gion, and the next, I was just somewhere else, and the situation was explained to me then," Shizumaru only faintly recalled the details of his invitation by Kaiki; but the memory of being torn away after sharing a bed with Rimururu, he wasn't sure he could ever have let that one go. "... What are you planning, Gohan?"
"Well, it just kind of occured to me, you know," Gohan gathered up another glob of the salve paste and smoothed it onto the open scar. "If Yuga's hunting down a Hanyo no Otoko, then it would be best for you especially to get as far away from Japan - or even this world - as fast as and as much as possible... right?"
"Gohan, it doesn't work that way," Shizumaru sighed. "I don't know what it is that makes me so special in the fabric of things, or what I could possibly contribute to the goal they want to reach... there was only one time when I felt that I did something, that I actually mattered to what needed to be done - and even then, I..." he broke off, holding his head in his hands. "It's been two years since then. Whatever worth I had in the eyes of Daisetsu doesn't seem to be worth much to anyone else."
"Shizumaru-kun, if I may," Gohan swept up the last of the paste from the bowl, and dabbed it lightly on the rest of the scar, "you're being awfully stupid about all this. What's your worth to those wanting you to fight for them compared to the worth you have to those who care about you? I mean, there's Haohmaru-san, and surely Caffeine-san, Tachibana-san before he passed away, Rimu-chan - and, well, haha, there's me, too, come to think of it," she added herself on as an afternote. "And you know I'm right in thinking that there are others who care about you somewhere, too - you're worth any value in their eyes... and mine."
"You sound like a self-help scroll," Shizumaru groaned. "... And you're right, as usual."
"I tend to be," Gohan smiled, and gave the second scar one last pat before she backed off. "All finished, Shizumaru-kun. Don't sleep on your back tonight, alright? You don't want that to smear all over the futon."
"I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight, even," Shizumaru pulled up the back of his robe to cover his back up (though loose enough to not touch the salve paste on his scars). "There's too much to think about, and far more to be worrying about."
"No sense in worrying about what you can't help, is there?" Gohan shrugged. "Anyhow... I suppose I'll - "
Both of them froze, suddenly, knowing that they had both felt the same chill rush through them in the last second. Gohan turned to Shizumaru, a dark rumbling in her heart signaling that something was definitely not right - "... Are you feeling that, too?" Her eyes were wide open and looking around slowly, while her body was frozen in place.
"Ameki is," Shizumaru nodded, responding very softly. "He noticed something like it while I was in the bath outside... he said someone was coming, but he wouldn't say who it was. He's still not on about it either, but it's exactly what he sensed before..." he fell into his own thoughts, and a look of horror came into his eyes. "Gohan, what if it's - "
"It couldn't be Yuga... my heart would really be on the fritz if it were," Gohan reached out and snatched up her katana from the wall, looking as if she couldn't decide whether to hold the blade in her usual iaido stance or to just hold on to it for protection. "It's - it's far away, whatever it is, but I can feel it getting nearer. It jolts... not something constant. Can't you feel it?"
"Sort of... but only when I'm looking for it. Ameki feels that presence much more than I can. If it's not Yuga, though - what could it possibly be?" Shizumaru sighed, moving over to his futon and flopping down on it roughly. "I don't know if I can fight against anything with the salves still drying - I've never tried it before. Gohan, would you - "
"One step ahead of you," Gohan had slung her tachi over her chest, and slipped her katana into the sash at her waist. She knelt down to snap on her tabi socks (they were deliberately a size too small for her - it helped her feel the traction of the floor), and blew out a puff of air as she stood up, brushing back her snow white hair. "I'm going to wake up that old monk and see what he's got about all of this - you stay here, alright? If anything - anything - happens, give a yell and don't give a shit about the paste." Following that, she slid open the door and slammed it back shut behind her, leaving Shizumaru to himself in the room - which had suddenly grown a good deal colder, and his shivers only emphasized it.
You know what it is, Ameki's whispers haunted him, as he fluffed out his white hakama trousers (presumably to put them on, though it was just as possible he was swatting at an insect or somesuch). You've felt it before. Don't you remember...?
Ameki, if I knew what was going on, I wouldn't be trying to figure it out, would I? he snapped back, his temper starting to spark again - he knew it, and he wanted to escape what was causing it, be it the demon or whatever was coming after him. ... You know. You know and you won't tell me because you want me to -
You caught on a bit faster than I thought you would. Though now that you know what it is I want... are you going to relent this time, Shizumaru? Shizumaru nearly fell to his knees as a wave of warmth flooded through him, and he just about dropped the kimono jacket that he'd been holding in his hands. He closed his eyes, breathing heavily against what he could see so clearly in his mind's eye, and he could just about feel a claw raking down his bare chest, with the demon's breath fixed not an inch above the crook of his neck.
"Ameki..." he moaned out loud. Not now... please, I can't -
Far too long, Shizumaru. You cannot remember the feeling... I know it. And you have denied me the one I want for so long - you should know, after these years, that it isn't wise to cheat your other half, Ameki's whispers surrounded his mind, clouding his vision and making him fall to the demon's lust, and he trembled in exactly the way he didn't want to, unable to resist the demon's strength. Say it. Tell me what I want to hear...
Shizumaru angrily clenched his fist, twisting the fabric of the futon below him into his hand, and he closed his eyes, trying not to look anywhere, in order to get away from the shame he felt. His throat clenched as he tried not to make himself say the words, but there in his mind's eye again, he felt the demon stroking his skin lightly, and another rush of heat spread through him, all flooding from where he could see Ameki slowly bite at the skin on his neck. It killed him to say it, but - _________________
. . . . . . . . . . . . Credo quia absurdum non credere. . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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CarlyCheeese Scarlet Rain Silence

Joined: 02 Jul 2002 Posts: 1149 Location: Koka-In Temple
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Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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... Hamete chodai. - Do it, he gritted his teeth, even as the warmth blazed inside him again. Not even a second later, he choked and gasped for air as his eyes shot open - another burst of pleasure had suddenly shot through him, though it was more akin to the feeling of tasting something too sweet for the tongue. His head lilted up and his chest caved in as he breathed heavily and slowly, trying to regain some sort of composure - but with the pulse that kept coming, it was impossible to do anything. Finally, he gave in, and let his body go slack - even though it didn't matter, as the force of Ameki's will and the shots of pleasure that burst in him kept him quite steady.
You've forgotten how much you enjoy our little ritual, haven't you? Ameki's whispers fluttered through him, sending electricity down Shizumaru's spine as his head lilted back slowly. I know you better than you suspect. You never wish for your memories because of this very situation - you feel shame for reveling in the pleasure it brings. You feel guilt because you want that pleasure, and yet you deny yourself that which you crave? Even though you have love, you keep away from this - for what reason?
Don't speak, Shizumaru closed his eyes, and his lips opened up slightly in order to breathe more deeply. There's no need. If you have to - not about that, his chest sunk in, as his back arched up - and his hand instinctively swept lightly over his chest. It's distracting...
You do have a point. Just as long as I get to make you scream out loud this time, Ameki's taunts echoed through him, and it brought a faint smile to his lips. - This part might hurt, though, he warned, and indeed, the next pulse Shizumaru felt was as cold as ice and felt like something in his heart was being stabbed - where Ameki's soul had begun to intertwine with his own. The coldness that cascaded over him felt about as pleasurable as having his limbs hacked off, and the smile that he'd had quickly faded away. A minute more, and the icy feeling began to taper off, replaced by the same enticing warmth, and he recoiled in the familar waves.
The resurgeance of the ecstacy was more than welcome, but it was a sign that the odd intercourse between souls was nearly over - as Shizumaru's body kept growing warmer, his vision began to blur (not that in the room he was in, under darkness, that there was much to be blurred), and what slowly began to replace it was a faint image of pink, a sakura forest in bloom, and in the middle was a figure in dark magenta with blonde hair, holding out something in her hand - but none of it was clear at all, and still very faint. With time (and more bursts of warmth), the picture began to clear, until he could clearly see the figure before him in his eyes... and while he recognized the scene and the girl, the memory wasn't complete, since he could not remember the words to the situation, or in fact, anything about it.
A second later, it didn't much matter. The warmth turned to fire and exploded; his body shot back while his back arched sharply, and suddenly the memory played in his eyes as if he was actually there, living that very moment. The object in the girl's hand was an envelope, the girl's face was all too familiar, along with her strange ears of feather, and the energy she expelled - it was exactly what Ameki had been sensing. As he opened the envelope, the words penned out were terribly incomprehensible to his eyes, which had only known Japanese script - but it didn't matter; he could read it all perfectly. It was an invitation - the invitation to the first tournament that had started everything, two years ago.
That was what Ameki had been trying to tell him - that he was sensing another traveler 'hopping' from world to world, coming closer to theirs as time passed on. If they were heading towards him in particular... what could he do? There was both Gohan's reasonable advice to consider, but unlike the past, there were actually things to tie him down this time - most notably, Rimururu. The situation was coming nearer to drawing him with each second passing by, and even as his body convulsed in ecstacy, his mind was still calculating other thoughts, never completely focused on what passion Ameki was bringing to him.
Finally, he bent back forward, doubled over the futon, gasping for air and clutching a hand to his chest. His other hand was tightened around the kimono jacket that he'd intended to put on - though Ameki had created enough of a diversion (an embarrasingly desirable one, but a diversion nonetheless) to prevent him from putting it on. It turned out to be a while before he actually got around to doing that, for when he looked to the side, from behind his hair, there was suddenly someone else in the room - though after the memory he'd just received, it didn't much surprise him to see them there.
"Hm... 1.5% margin of error," the figure mumbled, blending in remarkably well with the darkness of the walls. "Perhaps this isn't the best time to announce my offer? I was certain I'd found an appropriate time, however - "
"Tournament... right?" Shizumaru coughed, managing to sit up, gathering his kimono jacket up in his arms. "That's what you want, isn't it?"
" - Perhaps this is a good time, then," the figure tipped his hat, approaching the young man still sitting beside the futon as he pocketed some sort of device into his suit coat. "You are... Shizumaru Hisame, I am correct? The signature would appear to match up with your last appearance."
"That would be me, yes. How you know of my own ventures, though, I'm not sure I ought to ask," Shizumaru smirked, loosely putting on the kimono jacket (but wearing it a bit low in order not to disturb the salve paste that was still drying), and a touch worried that the man - whoever he turned out to be - could see that his last few minutes had been... excitable ones, for lack of a less tactful word. "At least this time, I'm being asked first to attend..."
"The method is a suitable one to accomplish our means, yes," the man cleared his throat, and straightened his tie (a very plain one, and in a very ordinary fashion). He pulled out the odd little device from his coat pocket once more, and tapped a few buttons on it. "Let's see... according to our records, you have been present at two events, hither-to commonly known more frequently as 'tournaments', and have been seen as quite prominent in the affairs concering each of those gatherings," The man pressed one last button on the device, before pocketing it once again.
"If I might be a bit rude here," Shizumaru nodded his head, "... You seem to know so much about me, and yet, you haven't returned the favor. Wouldn't you be kind enough to tell me your name?"
"... Ralph," he coughed, and brushed a bit of dust off his hat (though Shizumaru had to wonder what the point of that was; the hat wasn't going to become any less grey no matter how much dust he brushed off of it). "You know already about what I've come to offer you, then? Which, aside from further proving you're the man I came to see, does make the situation less worrisome."
"That doesn't neccessarily mean I'll go, though," Shizumaru folded his arms - even if he was going to side with Gohan in this situation, he figured it ought to be a good idea to know just what he was in for. "What exactly do you want me for, anyway?"
"As the records have shown, you appear to be quite the exemplary fellow in past states of affairs, and so after reviewing your record, you were one of the prime candidates for our next venture. Judging on a careful analysis of your past service and preferred timeframe," he pulled the handheld device out once again (Shizumaru was starting to get a bit tiresome of it), poking at a few buttons - and a moment later, a little sheet of paper printed out from the side, which he tore off and held out for Shizumaru to see, "we have concluded that this is the best possible opportunity for you to participate once again."
Shizumaru frowned, looking at the little sheet - it made about as much sense to him as Nicotine on his best day of coherency. "I wasn't aware such things could be calculated," he handed the sheet back, still rather confused.
"They can be and have been," Ralph nodded, pocketing both the device and the receipt (after folding it up very carefully into half, then fourths, then eighths, and on from there). "As for what you would receive upon compensation, that could be a number of things - rest and relaxation, broad knowledge, sparring partners... quite an assortment."
"Which all seem to be a usual staple," Shizumaru smirked, tucking in his jacket under his sash. He was about to reach for his weapons to sling about his person, wary enough to be cautious around those he didn't know (even though Ralph looked about as threatening as a rock, he'd learned the hard way not to judge on appearence), when instead his fingers touched a small pouch of leather. He pulled it towards him, under Ralph's watching eye, and clutched it tightly in his hand, remembering the promises he had made those two years ago - one to a man since dead, and another to a girl who had restored his spirit. Ralph's handheld, if it had been out, would have quickly identified the contents of the bag; assorted glucose mass and protein, with a 99.998% chance that they were simply plant seeds. To Shizumaru, they were more than that, standing for what he had lived through and a connection, one that twined through the stars and heavens, to assorted worlds and the passage of time... to the people he had met through the tournaments, and those he was surely destined to see in the future.
Perhaps Ameki and the Muramasa were right - maybe there was such a thing as fate.
He slipped the pouch quietly into his jacket, seeing how Ralph had gone to poking around on his little console once again. "Perhaps I just might go," Shizumaru mused, gathering up his other belongings - the other pouch containing Nakoruru's salves, his last note in blood from Ukyo, Haru's diamond... the last two were tied to the strongest memories he could recall from the first tournament he had attended, and the diamond was twinkling almost mischievously, despite the lack of light in the room - beckoning him to take up the reins once again. Not only that, but Gohan's reminder of the situation kept falling on his mind - as it was, he would be far safer in a place untouchable by Yuga's darkness than right at the source. There was still one doubt, though -
"She can be kept safe, if that's what you wish," Ralph put his device away again, and Shizumaru's eyes flew immediately to him, wide and a bit disturbed. "What you wish for in your heart most right now - that can easily be taken care of."
"If I come out on top, is the part you're forgetting," Shizumaru frowned.
"That indeed. Nevertheless, my offer stands," Ralph adjusted his hat once more, brushing off the dust on his coat (which was also the exact same shade of grey, it turned out). "Will you go along, or shall I turn to the next subject I have in mind?"
It didn't take terribly long for Shizumaru to nod and agree - his reason told him, after all, that it was far greater an advantage if he was far away from the present danger than near it, and besides, the connection that remained with him had not been touched in a while. The artifacts he carried with him, the memoirs, and the future in a simple leather pouch - the impact, he knew, was more than minor in the true fabric of things. Haohmaru had told him often that even a simple wave through the air changes the flow of things - a butterfly would fly where it would have gone the other way, seeds would land in new directions, or a leaf might fall loose from a branch; but that was the way of nature, existing as a flowing river that could go any way... exactly what he was doing.
A mist clouded his eyes, surrounding him in its wake, and even though it made him drowsy and faint, the thought of freedom rested on him again - not only for himself, but for Gohan, Rimururu, Haohmaru, and everyone else trapped in the swath of evil. A snap, heard to him from far away, told him that Ralph had disappeared somewhere else, drawing in another to the next 'event', as he called it, and the thought that soon, he wouldn't have to put anyone in danger, comforted him slightly as he faded off with the mist.
...
Though once he'd disappeared, a girl of a certain albino persuasion snuck right back in, smirking. "Like I'd go after that old fart Nicotine... yeah right," Gohan laughed, well aware that Shizumaru wasn't there at all - even his assortment of weapons had disappeared, and all that was left behind was a neatly torn sheet of waxy paper, lying parallel to the sides of the futon that it happened to be in the exact center of. Ever curious, the geisha knelt to the side and plucked it from the sheets, pursing her lips as she read quickly (enough practice reading scrolls for her guests let her be so fast).
"'By mandate of the Interplanetary Agency Division #---'... the hell?" Gohan raised an eyebrow, but read on, "'The presence of a Hisame Shizumaru has been requested for service, deriving from SAM 29823. A week at most shall be required. Thank you for your time, have a nice day, and remember to spay and neuter your pets.' ... The [i]hell?" the girl was even more baffled by the strange message, scratching her head, but she figured out the jist of the thing, and leaned back, smiling softly - motherly.
"... So you're off then, eh? Didn't think you'd really do it," she mused, more to herself than anyone else. "Leaving me all alone here, heh... guess I'll manage. Everyone will. Just the way things go, I guess..."
There was a slight rumbling in her heart again, and she held a hand over her chest in response. "Hell, even - even it's missing you already. ... Take care," she rocked back, springing to her feet, and rubbing her eyes from behind her glasses. "And don't get too roughed up now, of course."
Gohan laughed to herself, falling out of talking to a person that surely couldn't hear her. "He says goodbye like we'd just see each other again tomorrow, doesn't he? Ai... all I can do for now is just stare at the stars and hope for the best."
She sighed. "Kaeru basho ga aru youni, Shizumaru-kun. You've always got a place to come back to - even if you don't think so."
He felt her words, true from the heart, and truly realized that he was gone.
-- _________________
. . . . . . . . . . . . Credo quia absurdum non credere. . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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Switchblade Rock You!

Joined: 01 Jul 2002 Posts: 827 Location: Cybertron
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Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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Setting: Southtown, USA. A small private gymnasium located near the downtown district.
Time: June 1st, 2002. 11 a.m.
Action: See following.
“Burn Knuckle!” A glowing blue nimbus surrounded Terry Bogard’s fist as he launched himself forward in a fierce dashing punch. Terry’s opponent stood her ground, unflinching. The very instant before Terry’s fist would have connected she stepped to the side, the attack whizzing harmlessly by. With nothing to stop his momentum, Terry continued his flight, eventually touching down a couple of yards past his target. In a smooth motion his feet touched down, his fist lowered, and he spun around to face his opponent.
“Hey-ey,” Blue Mary said, maneuvering the fingers of her right hand into a simple gun shape and bringing it up to her face. She lightly blew on her fingertip, then snapped her hand downward to point at Terry. “Try again, Terry.”
Terry smiled and adjusted the bill of his trademark red baseball cap. Without a word he ran forward a few feet, then leapt into the air. “Crack Shot!” Terry swept one of his legs back behind him, bringing it forward in a wide arc.
This time, however, Mary didn’t remain still. She too ran forward, but instead of jumping into the air, she dropped to floor and slid across the blue training mat, propelling herself safely underneath Terry’s attack. A few seconds later she hopped back up onto her feet, at the exact same time as Terry landed on his. Mary reached up and brushed back her shoulder-length blonde hair, rolling her eyes upward in mock expression of boredom.
“Power Wave!” Terry slammed his fist hard onto the ground. A sizeable burst of energy arose where his fist landed, racing across the floor directly towards Mary. Mary looked over at Terry and gave him a wink, then leapt into the air, flipping over the energy attack with ease.
The momentum of her jump carried her right up to Terry, and as soon as she got within range she reached out with one of her hands and grabbed hold of Terry’s red vest. With incredible speed and precision she quickly wrapped her legs around Terry, the right one going over his left shoulder and the left one going around his right side. Pulling her face close to his for an instant, she placed a light kiss on his left cheek, then suddenly jerked backwards, pulling Terry off his feet and flipping him over. A short few seconds later, Terry Bogard lay flat on his back, his head on Mary’s lap. The female detective had him in a tight headlock with her hands, while her legs securely pinned down his arms.
“Oh, come on, Terry,” she said. “You could have avoided that one with ease.”
“Who says I wanted to?” Terry replied, looking up at Mary with a smile.
“Just try and Raising Tackle your way out of this one, Mr. Lone Wolf.”
“Actually, I’m perfectly comfortable right here,” Terry said. “And it’s the Hungry Wolf.”
“Hungry for what, I wonder?” Mary said, her voice carrying a definite teasing tone as she leaned forward to look down on Terry’s face. Her opponent didn’t say anything, but his smile took on a shape that could only be described as wolfish. Mary kept him pinned for a few more seconds, then relaxed her limbs and fell backwards, laughing hysterically as she did so.
“Darn, just as I was starting to enjoy myself,” Terry said, standing up and offering Mary a hand in rising as well.
“I think we can mark that one down in my win column,” Mary said. The blonde woman walked off the training mat and pulled her towel off of a hook on the wall. Reaching over she pulled off Terry’s towel as well and threw it over to him. He caught it with ease and used it to wipe off his face.
“You’re not done, are ya?” a young boy asked from the side of the mat.
“Sorry, Rock,” Terry said, “But I think Mary and I are done sparring for now.”
“Physically at least,” Mary added with a wink.
“Aww,” the boy named Rock pouted.
“Tell you what, Rock,” Terry said, “If you ask nice enough, Andy and Joe might put on a little show for you, too.”
“Really?” Rock asked, looking over to Terry’s brother Andy and their friend Joe Higashi.
Andy stepped back from the punching bag he’d been using and looked over at Joe. “Whaddya say, Joe?” he asked.
Joe looked up from his own rigorous training (a magazine and a lemonade) and shrugged. “Sorry, Andy,” he said, “But I make it a point not to get into any fight where there aren’t at least three beautiful women present to marvel at my fantasticness.”
“You don’t even want to impress a young fan?” Mary said.
“Maybe,” Joe said, “If his mom is hot.”
Everyone else in the room sighed and shook their heads.
“Hey!” Joe protested, “A fighter has to live by his code, you all know that. It just so happens that my code is ‘impress lots of women.’ And I do my best to adhere strictly to said code.”
“Yeah,” Terry said, “You’re a regular Kim Kaphwan.”
“You know, it’s too bad Mai isn’t here,” Andy said. “I’m sure we could put on a really good show for Rock.”
“Rock isn’t old enough to see that kind of show,” Joe said. Andy looked over at the Muay Thai champ with a scowl, but Joe had already retreated behind the protective screen of his magazine.
“Hey, where is Mai, anyway?” Mary asked. “We were going to talk about teaming up for next year’s KOF. You know, in case it’s back down to only three on a team.”
“Are you sure?” Terry asked, “It’s been great having you as a partner for the last couple of tournaments.”
“I’d hate to come between a trio of champs like you,” Mary replied.
“We could always get rid of Joe,” Andy suggested. “I’m sure Kim and Jhun wouldn’t mind taking on another reform job.”
“Or we could stick you in a dress and put you on the Women’s Team, Andy,” Joe countered.
“Maybe you could team up with Shingo and Kensou,” Andy replied. “Now there is a match made in heaven.”
Joe opened his mouth to retort, but everyone in the room was suddenly distracted as a large black hole opened in the ceiling, accompanied by a sound something like “Blink!” Almost immediately Joe, Terry, Andy, and Mary slipped into their fighting stances.
Several seconds passed without anything happening, then s gray shape fell out of the hole and landed on the training mat. “Ow,” the shape said, slowly picking itself up and looking around the room. It was a short man, dressed in a gray suit.
“Who are you?” Terry asked, “What are you doing here?”
“My name is Ralph,” the man said. “I’m here looking for…” Ralph was interrupted by a knock at the gym’s front door. Terry and the others looked nervously between Ralph and the door. After a few seconds Joe stepped back and ran over to answer the door.
On the other side was a stocky boy in his late teens. He had greasy hair, severely pronounced acne, and was dressed in a t-shirt that had a large picture of Andy Bogard on it. “Um, h-h-hi,” he said. “Um, is Andy Bogard here?”
“Uh, sure,” Joe said, “Hang on a sec. Andy! Fan!”
Andy looked over to the door, then back at Ralph. “Go ahead,” Ralph said, “I’m not here to fight anybody. Andy looked over at Terry and Mary, and, after a reassuring nod from both, he headed to the door.
“Can I help you?” Andy asked the young man at the door.
“Um, h-hi,” the young man said. “I’m a r-r-really b-big fan of yours, Mr. Bogard. And I was, um, wondering if you could, um, sign an autograph for me?”
“Sure,” Andy said. “Hey Joe, could you get me a pen and some paper?”
“Oh,” the fan said, “I’ve g-got paper here.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, handing it to Andy.
“Thanks,” Andy said. The young man handed Andy a pen, as well.
“Watch,” Ralph said, “This is going to be funny.”
“What?” Terry asked.
“Trust me,” Ralph said, “Just watch.” Terry shrugged and watched his younger brother’s autograph session.
“You know,” the fan said, “I’ve been, um, working out. I w-want to be a s-street fighter, too.”
“Really?” Andy asked. “Good for you. I’m sure you can do it if you try.”
“Th-thanks,” the fan said. “C-can you sign the paper now?”
“Sure,” Andy replied. The younger Bogard looked down at the paper and raised the pen to sign it. Then he stopped. “Wait a…” Andy unfolded the paper. “’Certificate of Marriage?’ What the…?” Andy looked up at the fan, who had an innocent and confused look on his face.
“MAI!!!” Andy yelled.
“Can’t blame a girl for trying,” the fan said, his voice suddenly much higher-pitched and feminine. The young man reached behind his back and grabbed hold of his shirttails. Pulling them forward he spun his shirt around in front of him, totally obscuring his form for a instant. A few seconds later the young fan was gone, and in his place stood the curvy figure of the ninja woman Mai Shiranui.
“See?” Ralph said. “She tried this last year in universe FAF 92048.”
“She tried this last week here,” Mary said.
“Universe, huh?” Terry asked. “Do you have something to do with Kaiki and Halcyon?”
“Not really, no.” Ralph said. “But I am here to invite you to another tournament.”
“Hmm,” Terry said. He looked around the gym for a few minutes, his eyes noticeably lingering on Mary and Rock.
“Go for it, Terry,” Mary said. “It’s not like you’re going to be missing out on anything exciting for the next week or so.”
“Yeah, Terry!” Rock cheered. “Show the rest of the universe what a great fighter you are!”
“Alright,” Terry said, turning back to Ralph. “I’m in. Let’s rock this tournament.”
“Excellent,” Ralph said. “If you’ll follow me.” With a “Blink” sound the black circle moved from the ceiling to the floor.
“Good luck, Terry!” Rock said.
“See you guys in a week,” Terry replied, waving goodbye to the others.
“Hey,” Mary said, running over to Terry and planting a kiss on his cheek. “Stay away from naked lady cops this time, okay?”
Terry returned the kiss and gave Mary a smile. “Will do,” he said. Terry then walked over to Ralph’s portal and stepped into it. Ralph promptly followed, and the portal closed behind them. _________________
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Bud Pumpkin King

Joined: 01 Jul 2002 Posts: 1444 Location: luz
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Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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"Weren’t we supposed to be doing something before tubby here fell asleep?” Bud said, poking the goblin’s head with his pan. “Why am I not home watching cartoons, and why are my feet cold?”
An angry expression grew on Lisa’s face. “Your feet are cold because you’re in the snowfields. We’re getting elemental coins with Chumpy. Weren’t you paying attention at all?”
“I pay attention when there are more serious things involved! Great sorcerers like myself don’t even need elemental coins!” Bud smirked and opened his palm to make a small flame appear. Annoyed, Lisa put her wrists together haduken-style, and shot a line of fire toward where Bud’s feet would be. Bud sidestepped, and the line of fire hit Guri’s feet.
“IT’S SO HOT!” Guri screamed, and began stomping around in the snow to put the fire out.
“Now I remember why I usually only bring one at a time…” Chumpy thought from a safe distance. “How about you three camp here and find me some dragon scales for my new sword. I’ll be over in the next area where it’s quie…eh, where the elementals hang out.” Chumpy waved farewell to the sorcerers and vanished around some trees.
Bud scratched his head. “Hmm…What drops dragon scales around here, Lisa?”
“I think it’s safe to assume dragons do, Bud.”
“You mean like that one?” Bud pointed to a very large, white, flying dragon sniffing an unsuspecting Guri as he was blowing on his feet. The dragon breathed in, and then exhaled a cold bolt of energy at the goblin, turning him into a snowman.
“Ooh! Nice one, Bud!” Lisa pulled out her wooden flute and began to play a mysterious melody. When she was done, a vine sprouted from the ground beneath the dragon and wrapped itself around the dragon’s legs.
Bud charge forward, leaped, and swung his pan upward at the dragon. “Budryuken!” he shouted. The attack landed, and stunned the beast. Lisa took the opportunity and played yet another tune on a different flute. This one caused a giant boulder to fall out of the sky and land on top of their enemy, crushing it.
“Yay!” Lisa shouted, “Now where are those scales?”
“I…think you crushed them…” Bud said. The twins were silent, until the sound of Guri’s negative status effect wearing off and the goblin falling into the snow broke the silence.
“Eh, when we’ve taken over the world we’ll have servants to do this kinda stuff for us,” Lisa sighed.
“Not hard to please you, is it?”
The strange voice from behind the trio startled Bud and Lisa. “Who are you?” they said simultaneously.
“Nice to meet you, my name is Ralph.” The grey man with a grey hat and grey clothes extended his grey handshake to the twins. “I have a proposition for you…How would you like your very own pumpkin army?”
Bud fainted and Lisa’s eyes got as wide as they’d ever been. “What would we have to do to get it?” she asked.
“Simply participate in a tournament.”
“Oh, no,” Guri grunted, “I don’t want any part in this. I’m feeling some sorta deja-vu, and I don’t like it. Listen, ….Ralphdumbhead, there’s no way you can get me into any kind of tournament.” Guri crossed his little goblin arms and turned the other way. “’Sides, what I really want would be –THE POWER- and my bishounen body back, not some stupid pumpkins.”
Ralph pressed a few buttons on his handheld. “How would you like –THE POWER- and a bishounen body instead?”
Guri gave a thumbs up. “I’ll take it!”
“And, um, Bud’s unconscious, but we’ll go too!” Lisa said happily.
Ralph punched a few more buttons on his handheld, and the four of them vanished.
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/no1 _________________
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Lisa Pumpkin Queen

Joined: 03 Jul 2002 Posts: 1804 Location: Fa'Diel
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Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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BUD SHORYUKENS A DRAGON!
What? It HAD to be said. Awesomeness, Nif. :3 *gets even more excited about RTSG* |
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Coin Huh?

Joined: 07 Jul 2003 Posts: 467 Location: Gotham City
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Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2004 2:24 am Post subject: |
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The Gotham City night was strangely calm; there was not a cloud in the sky. It was good news for the opening of the latest attraction: the biggest cinema ever in Gotham City, along with the premiere of one of the most expensive films ever made. The red carpet lined the walkway to the entrance, flashing cameras and screaming fans on both sides of it. The emcee of the night was an extremely popular host, respected by celebrities and the public alike. He introduced each of the celebrities and VIPs that arrived with great enthusiasm and energy, and the crowd loved him.
"And coming up we have here a black limousine... Ooo, it’s an expensive one, the latest model. Definitely one of the richest people in the world, but who could it be?" the emcee went on, as a huge limousine approached the red carpet. And true enough, out stepped the richest man in Gotham City itself.
"Woah! Its Bruce Wayne! Our very own billionaire! We all know the playboy that he is, so he's definitely not alone. His date is stepping out of the car now..." Bruce Wayne gave a wave and a nod to the crowd, before turning around as his companion stepped out of the car. She was a beautiful blonde girl, wearing an extremely revealing outfit. A typical date of the philandering lady-killer.
"And it’s Britney Spears! Goodness me, Bruce Wayne's latest squeeze is Britney Spears! What a day for the tabloids!" the emcee approached Bruce Wayne and began to fire a series of questions, all of which were waved off as Bruce entered the cinema with Britney Spears on his arm.
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"Well, well, well... what have we here. The almighty Bruce Wayne and his little girlfriend Britney Spears. This makes things all the more fun." The Joker said, before launching into another bout of maniacal laughter. "She's going to feel my toxic before the night is over." Harley Quinn joined in the laughter, trying to impress The Joker. For reasons unknown to others, this Clown Princess of Crime was almost as obsessed with the Ace of Knaves himself. The Joker never really took a liking to Harley, though her 'love' was useful at times.
"That was great, Mistah J!" Harley said, between mouthfuls of laughter.
"Shut up." The Joker snapped all of a sudden, to the surprise of Quinn. Not that she wasn't used to this, but his mood swings still stunned her at times. She shrugged and gave the clown a kiss full on the lips, of which he complied for a while.
"Later, Harley. The cinema is filling up, its time for the real party to begin!" The Joker said, his mouth contorting to a freaky smile.
"Oh... you are so intelligent. We will definitely get that Batman tonight. He will die, like the rest of them." Harley smiled too, but hers was not as twisted as The Joker's. The two criminals were hidden on the roof of the cinema, about to reveal themselves to the unsuspecting public below them.
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"Oh Bruce... you're so funny, and so sexy too." Britney said, with a giggle. She was sitting sideways on Bruce's lap, her mouth almost touching his ear. The two of them had gotten a couple chair, and were oblivious to the movie that was being shown.
Bruce smiled. "You too, Britney. And I bet I'm a much better kisser than that boy Justin."
"Oh... he was nothing compared to you." Britney replied, her finger trailing along Bruce's muscles. "And his body is absolutely nothing when compared to yours." Her finger continued to wander, as she gently caressed his toned body. She paused for a moment on his thigh, lingering there for a few seconds.
Bruce looked like he was enjoying it, but his mind was on other matters. His playboy image was but a farce, a mask hiding the truely hurting man inside. At the moment when the young pop star was pawing him, he was thinking about Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing. He was on yet another mission with the newly formed Outsiders, chasing down yet another supercriminal.
Bruce sighed. He knew Dick was capable of handling almost anything, but still he worried about his foster son. Chasing after criminals was dangerous work, but someone had to do it. Bruce was pleasantly surprised when they called their group the outsiders. They, along with the Teen Titans, were the future of the Justice League. Bruce knew soon his body would betray him, and the rest of the superheroes(Martian Manhunter, Superman and Wonder Woman not included) would follow suit. As powerful as the Green Lantern was, he would need to retire sooner or later. With teenagers and young adults like the Outsiders and Teen Titans, the future of crime fighting looked bright indeed.
"What's wrong, darling? You seem to be thinking of something." Britney asked, stroking Bruce's hair.
"Oh, its nothing dear." Bruce said, snapping back to reality. "I was just thinking how lucky I was to have you." For some reason, he felt something was wrong. It was then that he started to notice movement at the top of the cinema. Looking up, he saw a flash of white.
"I'm sorry, Britney, but I have to go to the gents for a while." Bruce said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. White meant trouble. It was either The Joker, Harley Quinn, or worse... both of them.
"I can come with you. You may have trouble zipping up..." Britney purred seductively. Bruce laughed, before petting her on the head and getting up.
"I'll be back soon." Bruce mumbled before heading straight for the exit. Whipping out a small gizmo that looked like a palm top, Bruce pushed a few buttons and sent his Batmobile with his costume zooming towards the cinema. There were security cameras around, so Bruce went down and left through a back door that said "staff only". Within seconds of Bruce leaving the cinema the Batmobile arrived. After scanning the surroundings for people, Bruce hopped into the Batmobile.
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Britney Spears was making herself comfortable again, while trying not to reveal too much to the many guys who were staring at her(not very easy, considering her white micro miniskirt went only two inches below her crotch).
"Why, my love?" Orlando Bloom was saying on screen, as he removed his shirt.
"We don't have to...." the handsome man was cut off in mid-sentence while removing his pants. There were a few curses from the female section of the audience as the screen went black.
A single spotlight lit up the stage in front of the screen, and stopped moving at the middle, centering on a green haired man in a purple suit.
"LA-A-ADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!" the man said into a microphone. "The REAL entertainment of the night has arrived. Who wants to watch that pretty boy, when you've got The Joker!"
The audience, who were chatting among themselves since the movie went out went silent.
"What's the matter? The Joker's not good enough for you? Have you people lost your sense of humor? Well, you're going to FIND IT, or I'll find it for you!"
The crowd screamed as the clown threw a strange looking grenade into the audience. A strange yellow gas emitted from the grenade, and those that breathed it in started to laugh uncontrollably. Some of the audience had run for the exits, only to find them locked.
"Why are you trying to leave? Isn't it fun?" The Joker grinned as he took in the sweet sound of laughter. It was music to his ears.
"Britney Spears, come on to the stage! Come, or everyone dies!" At the command of the Joker, a fearful Britney slowly came on to the stage.
"Ah.. Britney my dear, I have to admit I love your music. One of your songs, Toxic, has really inspired me." The Joker slapped her bum a few times, before ordering her back down into the crowd.
"Its time to have even MORE fun! Harley!" The Joker shouted into the microphone. But after waiting for a few seconds, nothing. "Harley? HARLEY!!!!" Still nothing. Joker looked up to the room that Harley was supposed to be, and saw a knocked out Harley, tied up and helpless. Towering over her was an imposing figure, dressed in black with a bat symbol on his chest.
"Ah... Batman, you sure took your time. You here to join the party? I was just talking to Britney over there, telling her how much I love her song. What were the lyrics?"
After pondering for a moment, The Joker started to sing :
With a taste of poison paradise
I’m addicted to you
Don’t you know that you’re toxic
And I love what you do
Don’t you know that you’re toxic
"Well, we're ALL gonna be toxic. You may have knocked out Harley, but I've still got a remote!" The Joker took out a remote, but it was knocked out of his hand by a batarang. The Joker started to laugh all the harder. Two explosions rocked the cinema, as two holes were blown through the ceiling. Falling down were two barrels of toxic waste, the skulls on the containers clearly seen in the moonlight. Taking a running leap from the second floor where Harley Quinn was, Batman shot his grappling gun into the ceiling. The dart pierced the concrete, and Batman swung towards the first barrel. He grabbed the heavy container's handle with one hand, shooting his grappling hook for the second with the same hand. The hook wrapped around the barrel, and Batman swung to the stage and put both of them down.
"Awww... why do you always have to come and spoil the fun, Batman?" The Joker complained, stomping his foot. Before he could say anymore, Batman had knocked him out with a few well placed hits. Quickly swinging out to the roof through the holes, Batman disappeared through the roof.
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Bruce knocked down the door leading into the cinema, covering his nose with a handkerchief. He quickly found Britney, and helped her out of the building."
"Oh, Bruce... it was so scary in there! The Joker came, then Batman rescued us!" She cried, blowing her nose.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there, Britney." Bruce was about to explain(lie) a little more when a strange man in a gray suit approached him.
"Mr Wayne, could I speak to you for a moment?" The man had a strange accent, and Bruce couldn't quite place it.
"Can it wait? Mr..."
"Ralph. Just call me Ralph. I need you now... Batman." Ralph whispered the last word into his ear, soft enough so Britney couldn't hear it. That caught Bruce's attention. Few people knew his identity, and he'd never seen this man before.
"Sorry, Britney. I'll be right back." Bruce squeezed her hand, then left with Ralph.
"Ok, speak. Who are you, and how did you know who I am?" Bruce asked, with a voice that demanded an honest answer.
"I'm Ralph, and I'm here to invite you to another tournament."
"Another tournament? Why?" Bruce remembered his last tournament. He had managed to do many things, freeing a bunch of slaves was one of them. In the end it all turned out all right, and he had learnt plenty.
"We need your help. More information will be given if you agree." Ralph replied. Bruce considered it for a moment. Chances are he would be returned at the same time he left, and be much wiser for the experience. He could pick up newer technology, and better techniques. There were more plus points than minus.
"Looks like I'll be taking a holiday. Wait for a moment" After a few seconds, Bruce was back as Batman, in full gear. Ralph nodded, and pressed a button on his palm.
Batman's world faded to black. _________________
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Onyx Dark Lord of the Sith

Joined: 01 Oct 2002 Posts: 1181 Location: New Jersey
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Posted: Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:31 am Post subject: |
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It's time for... Half-Assed intro time! (note that this is really rushed and in no way will reflect my writing style for the tournament).
Revan and HK-47 are cruising around in the Unknown Regions in their ship, the Ebon Hawk.
Ralph appears.
Ralph: Sup bitches. Want to participate in a tournament?
Revan: Word, son.
HK-47: Agreement: We'll bust shit UP, nigga!
*woosh*
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